Davos - Microsoft chairperson and philanthropist Bill Gates
pledged a further $750m to the troubled global Aids fund on Thursday and urged
governments to continue their support to save lives.
“These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for
cutting aid to the world's poorest,” he said in Davos at the annual meeting of
the World Economic Forum.
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria
announced two days ago that its executive director, Michel Kazatchkine, was
stepping down early following criticism over misuse of funds and cuts in funding.
The public-private organisation, based in Geneva, accounts
for about a quarter of international financing to fight HIV and Aids, as well
as the majority of funds to fight TB and malaria.
But it has been forced to cut back and said last year it would
make no new grants or funding until 2014.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is
giving $750m through a promissory note - a fresh injection in addition to the
$650m the Gates charity has contributed since the fund was launched 10
years ago.