Why Bill Gates is Giving Away His Fortune

Bill Gates, speaking to George Stephanopoulos, host of "This Week", on ABC today:

Gates: Well, there's about 20 diseases that don't exist here in the United States that are killing millions of people in poor countries. The worst of those are malaria and AIDS. And so we've made those a particular focus. The exciting thing is that the biology has improved, so the chance of having new medicines and vaccines are stronger today than ever. And yet because the people who need these medicines can't afford them, we haven't put the resources of the world behind us. And with our foundation, with others, with governments now, we're changing that. We're getting the brightest scientists to come and work on these problems....Stephanopoulos: So, you've got the president and the leaders of the Congress, both parties in one room. You've got one minute. What's the one thing you asked them to do?Gates: Well, I think there's some science here that they ought to fund in a better way. Be willing to take some risks. I think the image of the United States in the world at large could be improved if our commitment to help with some of these tough conditions was more obvious. And we tracked the progress there.