Bill Gates donates $100m to Global Fund to fight AIDS.

1. Wideshot press conference 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Patty Stonesifer, President of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "As I have already identified global health is a top priority of the foundation and reducing HIV transmission as the top priority of that health program we are today announcing a 100 million dollar commitment to the global fund for AIDS and health.That fund is still being finalised and developed .It is a response to a call for action from the Secretary General (of the UN) but the political leadership around the world has stepped forward and said yes, an international fund is necessary ,in fact required , dramatic increase in funding from political leaders as well as private entities is necessary and required to address the pandemic." 3. Cutaway press 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Patty Stonesifer, President of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "Our reason for coming out today with our 100 million dollar commitment and also saying that this would be a multi-year commitment that is targeted at HIV, at prevention of transmission of HIV, AIDS, is literally to say that we support this call, we support the establishment of the fund, we applaud government players that have already stepped forward with their commitment but we also applaud and encourage all the many political and individual players that are considering their contributions today." 5. Cutaway press 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Patty Stonesifer,President of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "Next week is the UN General Assembly that would focus on the AIDS pandemic and next month, of course, the G8 has already said that they will put this issue , both the AIDS pandemic and addressing of the infectious diseases as high priority on their agenda and so we felt that this was an appropriate time for us to make it very , very clear that this is top priority of our foundation". 7. Wideshot press conference STORYLINE: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday donated one hundred million dollars to an international health fund to fight AIDS. The foundation also called on European Union nations and other countries to make further contributions. Foundation president Patty Stonesifer, who was in Brussels to meet with the E-U's development commissioner Poul Nielson, said that a dramatic increase in funding was necessary to fight the spread of the disease. Stonesifer said the fight against AIDS was a "top priority" for Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation, and one of the world's richest men. The Microsoft founder has already pledged 1-hundred and twenty-six million dollars to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. Gates has also donated 7-hundred and fifty million dollars over five years to boost global immunization efforts. Stonesifer has been traveling around the world to drum up support for the fund. So far, the United States and France have been the only large donor countries. The announcement of the foundation's contribution to the global fund was made ahead of a key U-N conference on AIDS to be held next week in New York. The fund was proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April, when he called for a "war chest" of seven to ten billion dollars annually to halt the spread of AIDS. However, at a U-N conference on poverty last month, E-U countries stepped back from donating money to the fund. They argued there were not yet enough guarantees that the money would be spent correctly. Several delegations, including the E-U, called on the United Nations to redraw its proposal. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/acef9eb30cd16a270b5e01fb24fec445 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork