Bill Gates

[Lineymom]

There is another thread here about celebs and whether they circumcised their babies and about that effecting people's opinions. I think celebs really do effect the public's opinions. It got me thinking, how/why does a "smart" man like Bill Gates actually pour money into circumcision?

I'm a lurker here btw, but proudly a mom of 2 intact boys

[NSmomtobe]

I think a better question is why do the WHO and UNAIDS think this is a worthwhile endeavor? I believe Bill Gates is only trying to help out by putting money into what the "experts" deem to be a worthy cause.

[ancoda]

Originally Posted by NSmomtobe

I think a better question is why do the WHO and UNAIDS think this is a worthwhile endeavor? I believe Bill Gates is only trying to help out by putting money into what the "experts" deem to be a worthy cause.

This is my guess too.

[Lineymom]

Yeah, I'm sure that's right, but if a "brilliant" man cannot even think for himself... hmmm what about average american moms.

[tlh]

I think most moms know it's wrong by instinct but they think that most boys are circumcised or because the father is the son should be especially when the father is saying it has to be done.I doubt that Bill gates has that kind of instinct.All moms need is the encouragement to trust their own minds.Bill Gates has probably never seen the other side of the argument and if someone were to show him the other facts he might change his mind.

[Pirogi]

Also, based on his age and background, it is likely Bill Gates is circumcised himself.

[hakunangovi]

I read an article once about the Gates Foundation, and as with most of these types of organizations, it is run by someone else. I would hope that Bill and Melinda Gates have some idea as to where their money is going, but I suspect that whoever their employee is that runs the foundation, they have a fair bit of autonomy. This is the person who needs the reality check.

[brant31]

I was a bit surprised when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jumped aboard the African circumcision bandwagon. Mind you, I'm not sure that B&M actually make the decision themselves where the money goes -- that's up to the foundation's executive director and board. I don't think the Gateses endowed this foundation with strings attached.

The reason I was surprised is because I remember the press release when their son Rory John was born exactly 12 weeks after the last AAP statement claiming that male infant circumcision was unnecessary. It struck me as peculiar at the time, and I wish I had kept a copy -- it was in newspapers and all over the nightly news. The statement from Bill Gates read something like, "I am pleased to report that both mother and son are healthy and doing well, and no unnecessary surgeries were performed on either. Thank you all for your good wishes."

Isn't that an odd birth announcement? Maybe I read too much into it, but that was pretty much what B.G. requested be read aloud on every network. I immediately emailed all my friends and asked them what to make of it. C-section? Episiotomy? Circumcision? No one knew.

[kblackstone444]

Originally Posted by Lineymom

It got me thinking, how/why does a "smart" man like Bill Gates actually pour money into circumcision?

"Smart" and "informed" aren't always the same thing.

[Lineymom]

Originally Posted by brant31

I was a bit surprised when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jumped aboard the African circumcision bandwagon. Mind you, I'm not sure that B&M actually make the decision themselves where the money goes -- that's up to the foundation's executive director and board. I don't think the Gateses endowed this foundation with strings attached.

The reason I was surprised is because I remember the press release when their son Rory John was born exactly 12 weeks after the last AAP statement claiming that male infant circumcision was unnecessary. It struck me as peculiar at the time, and I wish I had kept a copy -- it was in newspapers and all over the nightly news. The statement from Bill Gates read something like, "I am pleased to report that both mother and son are healthy and doing well, and no unnecessary surgeries were performed on either. Thank you all for your good wishes."

Isn't that an odd birth announcement? Maybe I read too much into it, but that was pretty much what B.G. requested be read aloud on every network. I immediately emailed all my friends and asked them what to make of it. C-section? Episiotomy? Circumcision? No one knew.

Very interesting! hmmm?

[TyrantOfTheWeek]

This is from last year, but I found it interesting:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...programme.html

[dinahx]

B&MG&tes Foundation just bought 500,000 shares of M*nsnto too. So while smart may not be debatable, other qualities definitely are.

[brant31]

Originally Posted by TyrantOfTheWeek

This is from last year, but I found it interesting:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...programme.html

"It's great news, and this is exactly what's needed," says Catherine Hankins, chief scientific adviser at UNAIDS.

I was sitting in the audience right in front of Cate Hankins when she announced the grant last year in Cape Town. She is part of the team that is pushing extremely hard to ramp up circumcision in Eastern and Southern Africa to 38 million teens and adults, plus untold millions of newborns.

The sense I got from Vienna this past summer is that foundations like Gates are feeling "donor fatigue", in that they gave $50 million in 2009 to fund a pilot program to circumcise just under a million men, and now they're getting hit up for tremendously larger gifts to fund the 38 million ramp-up -- estimated to cost at least $1 billion dollars over the next 5 years. It will be a test of how much Bill & Melinda Gates, or at least their foundation, believe in circumcision.