盖茨基金会捐出2.79亿美元华盛顿大学用于追踪世界各地的健康和死亡数据

梅琳达和比尔·盖茨基金会刚刚向华盛顿大学的一个项目捐赠2.79亿美元，以追踪世界各地的健康和死亡数据。此举是迄今为止盖茨基金会规模最大的一次捐赠，也是华盛顿大学历史上收到的最大一笔私人捐款。

华盛顿大学早已从该基金会的慷慨义举中受益良多。盖茨是土生土长的西雅图人，至今已向该学院的超过250个项目赠款约12.5亿美元。

比尔·盖茨2017年1月25日发表博文称，我对今天在IHME的投资表示乐观，这是我们基金会历史上最大的项目之一，将有助于拯救生命。

作为微软公司的联合创始人，比尔·盖茨和妻子梅琳达已经承诺，在一生中，把自己拥有的840亿美元财富的半数以上捐献出去。

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation boosts vital work of the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) announced today the foundation’s commitment to invest $279 million in IHME to expand its work over the next decade.

The investment will allow IHME to build on its work providing independent health evidence to improve population health.  The award complements other investments from the Gates Foundation to further the work of the University of Washington’s Population Health Initiative, which was launched in May 2016 and is establishing a university wide, 25-year vision to advance the health and well-being of people around the world.

“IHME provides critical data about global health trends that can empower policymakers worldwide to identify better solutions in the fight against disease,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

An attendee at an Ebola workshop in Ghana reviews IHME data.Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

Located within UW Medicine, IHME provides rigorous measurement and analysis of the world’s most prevalent and costly health problems and evaluates strategies to address them. The 10-year grant will fund IHME’s work to track how health resources are spent throughout the world, as well as innovations that identify future scenarios to allow decision-makers to better plan and set population health-related priorities. The funding will sustain IHME’s efforts as the coordinating center for the Global Burden of Disease project, the largest publishing collaboration in science, with more than 2,000 researchers worldwide. The grant also provides core support for IHME’s faculty, students, and staff.

“IHME is deeply grateful for this funding and the foundation’s continued support,” said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of IHME. “Behind this grant is not simply a decision to continue outstanding research and analysis, but also an uncompromising commitment to use health metrics sciences to improve people’s lives.”

“We are proud to support IHME and the University of Washington. We feel lucky that our local university is also on the leading edge of innovation globally, and we are grateful that it has chosen to innovate to help the poorest people in the world,” said Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The $279 million grant is the largest private donation in the university’s history and continues a long tradition of critical investments in the University of Washington by the Gates Foundation, which include grant awards across its academic disciplines including library science, global health, education, law and others. As of Jan. 25, 2017, the foundation has awarded the University of Washington over 250 grants totaling nearly $1.25 billion.

“We’re thankful for this generous grant, which demonstrates the Gates Foundation’s high level of trust and confidence in IHME to deliver unsurpassed work on the world’s health challenges,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “We share a vision – a world where all people can achieve their full potential – and through our partnerships we will improve the health and well-being of people here and around the globe.”

IHME has grown from employing three individuals nine years ago to managing more than 300 faculty and staff today, while producing more than 200 scientific papers annually, and working closely with global and national institutions to improve health systems worldwide. Its findings are published in major scientific journals, policy reports, and online data visualizations. Moreover, IHME is now considered the trusted source for The World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development, The National Institutes of Health, the Wellcome Trust, and a range of other national and global organizations.

Among its work, IHME publishes the annual Global Burden of Disease study (GBD), a systematic, scientific effort to quantify the magnitude of health loss from all major diseases, injuries, and risk factors by age, sex and population. With more than 2,000 collaborators in nearly 130 nations, the GBD examines 300-plus diseases and injuries and about 80 risk factors in every country, as well as sub-national assessments for China, Mexico, UK, Brazil, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and South Africa. In the U.S., 230 causes of death are estimated in every county in every state by census tract.

The 2015 study, released in October, included more than 13 billion estimates of illnesses and injuries evaluated.