Bill Gates, writing for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recently released the Gates Annual Letter debunking three particular myths about foreign aid. Here, is a brief summary of the annual report.

Myth 1: Poor countries will forever stay poor.

The Gates Annual Letter states that income and human welfare have risen from previous notions of the “First World” and the rest of the world. Previous decades have considered the categories of “developed” and “developing” countries yet the two are far from relevant. One billion people have risen out of poverty and many others live in thriving economies. The myth of Africa forever plagued and poor does not hold true—Gates cites Nairobi as an urban center distinguished from a Kenyan village.

Myth 2: Foreign aid is ineffective.

Gates counters that nations such as the United States only spend 1 percent of their respective budgets for foreign aid—approximately $11 billion, far different from generalizations that donor countries often outspend and must therefore cut the foreign aid budget.

The Gates Annual Letter continues that foreign aid is an investment, not only for short-term solutions such as vaccines and bed nets, but also as an investment on the people themselves. The improvement and lifesaving consequences of foreign aid allow for the recipients to focus on education and development in their respective country.

Corruption and aid dependency are also treated in the essay. Though corruption is inevitable, the consequences are minimal to the benefits that are a result. Increasing transparency of the use of public funds also stymies corruption.

Lastly, countries that were once aid recipients are now themselves aid donors. The dependency myth is disproved by the amount of development that receiving countries have gone through and the change that ensued.

Myth 3: Foreign Aid leads to overpopulation

Melinda Gates takes over to write off the third myth: foreign aid leads to overpopulation. The idea being, saving lives leads to a higher density in a given population.

The truth is, as mortality rates decline, so do fertility rates. As women become more educated and as standards of living rise, family planning becomes a priority. The more confident a family is that their child will make it past infancy, that same family will have more children.

Foreign aid helps to create economic growth and education in recipient country, Gates argues. As the Co-chairs of their foundation, Bill and Melinda strive for bettering the lives of many by fighting extreme poverty.

With Bill Gates’ recently stepping down as chairman of the board for Microsoft, a company he helped found, more of his time will be geared towards his philanthropic work. Bill Gates is, however, to continue his role as an advisor for Microsoft, now under the leadership of newly-minted CEO Satya Nadella.

– Miles Abadilla

Sources: Gates Foundation, Huffington Post, NPR
Photo: ISideWith