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BILL Gates, the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, visited a number of organisations in Scotland last week, to hear how funding from the Gates Foundation is helping to develop affordable vaccines and medicines for livestock, and to learn more about research into livestock breeding and genetics. During his visit on July 29, Mr Gates and senior staff from the Gates Foundation spent two-and-a-half hours meeting with representatives of the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) at the Moredun Research Institute’s premises on the Pentlands Science Park near Edinburgh. The Gates Foundation is one of the principal funders of the Edinburgh-based charity, which is working to make livestock vaccines, medicines and diagnostics accessible to millions of people living in poverty who rely on their livestock for their daily needs. The foundation has donated more than £36 million to GALVmed’s ‘Protecting livestock, saving human life’ programme since 2008. ‘It was a privilege and an encouragement for us to be able to welcome Bill Gates to Scotland for his first visit to GALVmed,’ said Peter Jeffries, the charity’s chief executive. ‘The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has helped to facilitate enormous advances in human health, dramatically reducing infant mortality and greatly enhancing the lives and wellbeing of people living in extreme poverty. Healthy livestock plays a vital role in providing income for basic healthcare, school books and nutrition for millions of the world’s poorest people. ‘Today’s meeting brought together some of our key partners, working together as a global alliance to develop affordable livestock vaccines, medicines and diagnostics. Mr Gates engaged throughout the meeting at a highly technical level, asking informed and constructively provocative questions. Mr Gates was very encouraging about the breadth and quality of work being undertaken in the livestock health arena and emphasised the importance of delivering with impact for the lives of poor people and in doing so as quickly as possible.’ The Gates Foundation has a strategic focus on agricultural development and research to improve farming productivity in a sustainable way and, while in Scotland, Mr Gates and his colleagues also visited Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the University of Edinburgh, to learn

Photograph: Roslin Institute

Principal funder visits livestock medicines charity the Gates Foundation to investigate new treatments for trypanosomiasis in both people and farm animals in sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Gates also heard from Dave Roberts and Mizeck Chagunda of SRUC, who are working with dairy farmers in Malawi to use performance recording to increase herd productivity. Bill Gates (centre), with Jonathan Seckl of the University of Edinburgh ‘We were delighted (left) and David Hume of the Roslin Institute, during his visit to Scotland to welcome Mr Gates last week and his colleagues more about their efforts to improve the so that we could demonstrate the quality health and productivity of livestock by of research taking place at SRUC and the improving animal genetics and veterinary university, as well as of SRUC’s growing care. He toured the Roslin Institute on the international programme,’ said Geoff Simm, university’s Easter Bush campus before vice-principal for research at SRUC. ‘Mr visiting SRUC’s beef research facility on Gates was particularly interested in how the outskirts of Edinburgh. He also visited new technologies provide a step-change the National Avian Research Facility at in collecting data to enhance livestock the Roslin Institute where researchers are performance.’ developing genetic technologies to help Jonathan Seckl, vice-principal for breed chickens that are less susceptible to planning, resources and research policy at diseases, particularly those diseases affecting the University of Edinburgh, added: ‘It has birds in developing countries. been a great pleasure to welcome Bill Gates Among the scientists who described to the Easter Bush campus and showcase our their work to Mr Gates were Ivan work as world leaders in the field of animal Morrison and Liam Morrison, of the bioscience.’ Roslin Institute, who are both funded by doi: 10.1136/vr.g5039

August 9, 2014 | Veterinary Record | 135

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Principal funder visits livestock medicines charity Veterinary Record 2014 175: 135

doi: 10.1136/vr.g5039 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/6/135.1

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Principal funder visits livestock medicines charity.

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