Impatient Optimists
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Authors / Biography

Marc LaForce

Title Director, Meningitis Vaccine Project
Organization PATH/World Health Organization Partnership

Dr. Marc LaForce is the director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization.

Posts By Marc LaForce

The Beginning of the End of the Meningitis Epidemic in Africa?

May 26, 2011 / Marc LaForce

On the first day of a remarkable campaign to stop one of the most devastating diseases in Africa, five months ago, I wrote from Burkina Faso in the heart of West Africa.

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New Protection Against Meningitis

December 06, 2010 / Marc LaForce

Starting this week, families in sub-Saharan Africa will finally get a long-term solution against a deadly disease. A new meningitis vaccine called MenAfriVac™ is reaching millions of people in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger beginning today, and neighboring countries will soon follow.

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  • "Our desire to bring every good thing to our children is a force for good throughout the world. It’s what propels societies forward." —Melinda Gates

  • The Global Fund has helped to deliver more than 190 million bed nets to protect families from malaria.

  • "The world faces a clear choice. If we invest relatively small amounts, many more poor farmers will be able to feed their families." —Bill Gates, 2012 Annual Letter

  • "When it come to global health, Bill and I are optimists—but we're impatient optimists. Tremendous progress is being made. But there is still so much we're impatient to see done." —Melinda French Gates

  • In Senegal, 80% of households now have a bed net, helping the number of malaria cases there drop 50% in a single year.

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