Gates Foundation Gives $50 Million to School of Public Health William H. Gates Sr., center, director of the Gates Foundation, was applauded by Dr. Allan Rosenfield, left, dean of the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, and Dr. George Rupp, president of Columbia University. The foundation announced a donation of $50 million to fight maternal death and disability in developing nations. A press conference was held at Columbia University’s Low Library May 10 to announce a $50 million donation from the William H. Gates Foundation to the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health. Given on behalf of the foundation by its director, William H. Gates Sr., the money will fund international efforts to address maternal death and disability in developing nations. Research has shown maternal death to be not only rampant in developing countries, but also avoidable. Poor countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, have approximately 600,000 pregnancy-related deaths per year—an average of one death every minute. Dr. Allan Rosenfield, dean of the School of Public Health, and Dr. Deborah Maine, a researcher from the school’s Center for Population and Family Health, have found that most of these deaths could be avoided with access to better obstetrical care, specifically comprehensive emergency obstetrical services—services that can provide, for example, cesarean section for obstructed labor, blood transfusions to treat hemorrhage, and intravenous antibiotics for serious infections. Joining Mr. Gates and Drs. Rosenfield and Maine for the announcement was Columbia President George Rupp, who saluted the school’s leadership for working to identify these health issues and expressed Columbia’s honor and gratitude for the opportunity to work with the Gates Foundation to "save the lives of millions of women." The School of Public Health will use the gift to partner with governments, as well as such agencies as UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Care, and Save the Children with the shared goal of identifying and eliminating the disparity in emergency health care for women in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The targeted countries will receive improvements in facilities, equipment, and personnel training. Once the changes are implemented, an ongoing monitoring strategy will ensure these improvements are maintained. "It may be dramatic to think we’re raising the condition of mankind," Mr. Gates said at the press conference. "But there are women in other places of the world—women who don’t know what we’re talking about—who are going to be alive for many, many years because of the School of Public Health."