Regardless of Gates’ Motives, $100M Grant to Fight AIDS in India Will Help World, Editorial States

Given that Microsoft will invest $400 million in India over the next three years, skeptics might ask how much of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates' $100 million grant to India to fight HIV/AIDS is "spurred by the need to raise health standards there and how much it has to do with helping raise the profile of Microsoft in one of the world's largest emerging markets," a Chicago Sun-Times editorial states. Others might want to know why Gates did not spend the money in the United States because HIV/AIDS prevention efforts could "surely use the coin," the editorial says. However, "[t]here comes a point where you have to get past the personal politics ... and appreciate the potential good that a gift like Gates' can provide," according to the Sun-Times. Whatever Gates' motive, the gift will "make a real difference" by "helping in the fight against India's AIDS problem, which health officials there are slow to even acknowledge," and easing "the difficulties that HIV-infected women -- and men -- face in receiving treatment," the editorial states. "Sometimes you serve your best interests back home -- morally as well as politically and financially -- by reaching out beyond your own borders," the editorial concludes, adding, "The better off India and its people are, the better off we are" (Chicago Sun-Times, 11/14).