The world’s second richest man and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates arrived in Ghana on Monday, for a day's working visit.

This is the first time the founder of Microsoft is coming to Ghana for a private visit. Mr. Gates who arrived in the country yesterday evening, is expected to inspect some projects of “The Bill and Melinda Gate’s Foundation".

The Foundation is currently offering support to disease control programmes under the Ministry of Health such as; Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV.

He said in an article online prior to the visit: "I plan to share my experience in Ghana at the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi April 24-25, where global health leaders will celebrate progress in immunization and demonstrate how the world is united to give all children a healthy start to life."

The billionaire is impressed with how successful Ghana's immunization program has fared so far.

He said: "Ghana, for example, polio was eliminated a decade ago and an outbreak in 2008 was quickly controlled. No child there has died from measles since 2002. And Ghana was the first country to launch two new vaccines last April, against rotavirus, which causes severe diarrhoea, and pneumococcal pneumonia"

The 2013 Forbes magazine's second richest man set up the foundation in 1994 and is worth 36.2 billion dollars as at September 30 2012. It is ranked as one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world in terms of fund size.

It is controlled by three trustees namely; Bill Gates himself, his wife and the fourth richest man in the world, Warren Buffet.

Mr. Gates recently resigned as Chief Executive of Microsoft to take up a chairmanship role in the company and concentrate on his Foundation.

Bill Gates lauds Ghana on healthcare initiatives


Microsoft Founder and Philanthropist, Bill Gates has lauded Ghana for improvement in its public healthcare initiatives in areas of immunization, HIV/AIDS and malaria.

He made the comments when he was received by President John Dramani Mahama in the Flagstaff House,Tuesday.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has also been supportive of Ghana’s School Feeding Programme, the fight against malaria and maternal healthcare.

Bill Gates is on a private visit to Ghana to assess the impact of various health-related interventions being implemented by the Government of Ghana. He confirmed that he intends to recommend the successful Ghanaian strategies at the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi in April, where global health leaders will celebrate progress in immunization.

While commending the successes chalked by Ghana in various fields including immunization, Mr. Gates said he also intends to learn about the challenges and obstacles that face the country. He also announced the intention of his Foundation to help Ghana tackle challenges in sanitation and agriculture.

President Mahama commended the former Chief Executive of Microsoft for his Foundation’s support to Ghana's public healthcare system, especially in the areas of HIV/AIDS.

He said government was using new methods to tackle the malaria parasite, but expressed disappointment that Ghana has not done well with the management of sanitation and maternal mortality, making Ghana lag behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

He however indicated that government is adopting new ways of tackling the sanitation situation in the country.

Later, after a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Health, Bill Gates promised in an interview with Joy Business that the foundation would sustain support for Malaria, HIV and Polio eradication programs in Ghana.

Minister of Health Sherry Ayitey told Joy Business government is committed to co-support the immunization and HIV/AIDS projects to sustain them.