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Posted in Bill Gates, Microsoft, Patents at 3:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Early involvement of Bill Gates in Nigeria

AIDS is a very profitable condition for a few companies with many patents. Treatment of patients is not free and if ever it is done for free, then it is by not charging for patents, which are an artificial monopoly. Nigeria in general has been a source of revenue for Gates, with all of his investments in oil companies that poison the population, not to mention GMO. We wrote about this in posts such as:

Bill Gates Lobbies in Nigeria for Governments (Taxpayers) to Solve Polio Problem That Gates’ Investments in Oil Are CreatingWikileaks/Cablegate Sheds Bad Light on Bill Gates’ Rogue Patent InvestmentsGates Foundation Increases Polio and Tobacco Risk While Pretending to Do the Opposite

The following Cablegate cable from 2002 is important to us because it is almost 10 years old and it helps show the early days of lobbying the Nigerian presidency. It is interesting to see politicians paired with heads of corporations.

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, TBIO, SOCI, KWMN, NI, HIV/AIDS

SUBJECT: NIGERIA: FPOTUS CARTER AND BILL GATES, SR. VISIT

1. FPOTUS Jimmy Carter and Bill Gates, Sr. and staff from The

Carter Center and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation paid

a very successful, well-publicized March 8-10 visit to

Nigeria. The purpose of the visit was to galvanize greater

domestic support for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria,

increase the international spotlight on the HIV/AIDS crisis

in Africa, and to help destigmatize HIV/AIDS and encourage

leaders to interact with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

Carter and Gates met with President Obasanjo, visited a

Commercial Sex Worker (CSW) community, addressed Nigeria's

first-ever National HIV/AIDS Summit, and met high-level

officials in the Ministry of Health and the National Action

Committee on Aids (NACA). President Carter also gave an

inspirational HIV/AIDS focused message at the Presidential

2. Throughout the visit, the delegation specifically asked

about local solutions and how to garner more support for

combating the pandemic. They commended the positive programs

instituted by the Nigerian government and encouraged it to

recognize and use proven prevention methods. The delegation

particularly emphasized Mother-to-Child transmission (MTCT)

and prevention programs, which can dramatically halve the

risk of HIV transmission to new-borns. They supported

widespread implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention efforts,

especially among groups at high-risk of contracting or

spreading HIV, such as commercial sex workers, migrant

workers, truckers, and intravenous drug-users. The

Carter/Gates team also encouraged all segments of society,

including government, faith-based groups, businesses, and

civil society organizations to engage in the fight against

HIV/AIDS. The visit fulfilled the objectives of the

3. Officially, 5.8% of Nigeria's population between the ages

of 15-49 is HIV positive, which equals an estimated 3.5

million infected people. Projections are that over four

million Nigerians will be HIV positive by the year 2005. By

the end of this year, 1.3 million Nigerians will have died of

AIDS since the start of the epidemic. The toll has reached

the point where it is estimated that one person dies of AIDS

every 2 minutes (over 700 people a day). If nothing is done,

it is estimated that a further one million will die by 2005.

4. The delegation met privately with President Obasanjo the

morning of March 9. Carter/Gates encouraged Obasanjo's

continued leadership on HIV/AIDS and talked about increased

funding and more effective policies, particularly focused on

high-risk groups. (Comment: President Carter and President

Obasanjo have been friends since Carter visited Nigeria in

1978 when Obasanjo was then military Head of State. This

relationship was reportedly strained after Carter refused to

certify the 1999 election as free and fair. However, the

long-standing relationship appeared to be intact during the

5. The Carter/Gates team described the Obasanjo meeting as

"successful". They characterized President Obasanjo as

personally engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the

Embassy concurs with that conclusion. Obasanjo told

Carter/Gates that Nigeria's biggest need is funding and

stressed that everyone in his government must be involved in

the fight against HIV/AIDS. Obasanjo's goal is to hold the

infection rate at the official estimate of 5.8%, then push

for an eventual reduction. After seeing posters of President

Obasanjo with PLWHAs, President Carter praised Obasanjo for

his personal commitment, his public display of compassion,

saying Obasanjo's efforts were an important part of reducing

the social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

6. When asked about religious leadership, Obasanjo responded

that some of the new generation churches and mosques are

engaged, but in general faith-based institutions needed to be

more active. Commercial sex work is another area where more

must be done. In the area of public awareness, Obasanjo

commented the GON has published pamphlets and booklets and

erected billboards to reach the non-literate. The government

provides condoms to all military barracks. (This policy was

established after it was learned that military peacekeepers

returning from Sierra Leone had an estimated 11% HIV/AIDS

infection rate.) The GON has started the voluntary testing

of pregnant women, but found it challenging because there are

not enough counselors to reach all of those in need.

Moreover, the utility of large-scale testing is of uncertain

value at this point because there are few treatment options

and the MTCT program is still in its infancy. The federal

government is also giving money to each of the states to help

establish HIV/AIDS prevention programs. (Comment: Only three

of 36 governors have demonstrated a sustained personal

involvement in the campaign against HIV/AIDS. End Comment.)

7. Leaving the comfort of the President's Villa, the

delegation next visited Mabushi village to meet with peer

educators being trained by the NGO Women's Health Education

and Development (WHED). These peer educators are themselves

CSWs, trained in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, now

educating other CSWs. President Carter and Mr. Gates met six

women who explained how their involvement in commercial sex

work began. Carter and Gates asked specific questions and

received some very frank answers during this discussion. This

experience proved a valuable reference point to help the

delegation speak credibly about the role commercial sex work

plays in spreading HIV. Carter/Gates mentioned Mabushi in

every subsequent meeting, interview and speech, including

Carter's interview with NBC and his speech at the HIV/AIDS

Summit. U.S. media personnel also asked questions of the sex

workers during the session, and scheduled follow-up

interviews in the afternoon. Both the NBC Nightly News and

the Today Show aired significant footage of the Mabushi

visit, and highlighted the nexus between commercial sex work

8. At the same time a larger group of CSWs and other members

of the Carter/Gates delegation met with the Minister of

Health and his Deputy who accompanied Carter/Gates to

Mabushi. The Minister promised to provide WHED with over two

million condoms free-of-charge by the end of the year, and

also agreed to help with re-education and relocation of the

women. The Minister of Health confided that he was unaware

of the depth of the CSW problem prior to his visit to

Mabushi. According to Sylvia Matthews of the Gates

Foundation, these promises alone validated the entire Africa

trip. WHED also received a $20,000 grant from the Aids

Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) to expand the WHED

program. Based on the results of WHED's initial efforts,

future funding is possible. (Comment: Poloff met with the

director of WHED two weeks after the visit. She has been

contacted by the Minister of Women's Affairs, and dialog on

the re-education program has begun. End Comment.)

9. After Mabushi, the delegation attended a special HIV/AIDS

forum convened by President Obasanjo entitled "HIV/AIDS in

Nigeria: the Road Ahead". The purpose of this first ever

HIV/AIDS summit was to mobilize greater domestic political

support, particularly at the state and local levels, for the

national campaign against HIV/AIDS. Along with the

Carter/Gates delegation, Cabinet Ministers, governors,

parliamentarians, religious and traditional leaders, PLWHAs,

donors and leading HIV/AIDS experts were in attendance. Prior

to the forum many National Assembly members, state governors,

and other opinion leaders had shown little or no support for

HIV/AIDS intervention. The Saturday Forum was meant to

convince these important players to join the fight. The Forum

was well attended and well publicized by the domestic media,

and was characterized by all as a major success. Comment:

The one disappointment was the relatively small number of

governors who showed up, only about six of the total 36.

This was surprising in view of the fact that the forum was a

presidential initiative. End Comment. USAID/Nigeria will

capitalize on the momentum created by the Forum by

implementing a new program that focuses on HIV/AIDS advocacy

10. In his opening address, President Obasanjo stated the

Saturday Forum was intended to bring national and

international experts from various sectors together. One year

after the Africa Summit on HIV/AIDS, the message was not

getting down to "every nook and cranny" in the nation, he

lamented. The President referred to his inaugural address

when he said that human resources were a nation's most

valuable resource. However, the fact that 3.6 million

Nigerians were already infected with the virus and that

number was growing undermined the notion of economic

development. Due to denial and the inaction of the past,

the HIV/AIDS epidemic now was felt at all levels of society.

Denial and government inaction also meant that past HIV/AIDS

programming was donor-driven and lacked adequate grass-roots

participation. Obasanjo thanked donors "( for keeping at

it while the Federal Government of Nigeria was in denial."

He ended his address by challenging the Forum's participants

to "reexamine our commitment and target a zero increase in

the prevalence rate and a decline in the rate from 2003 on."

11. Two of the most noteworthy Nigerian speakers were Dr.

Pat Matemilola, Chairman of the Network of People Living with

AIDS in Nigeria, and Dr. Peter Odili, Governor of Rivers

State. Governor Odili characterized the epidemic in his

state, which has the third highest HIV prevalence rate

nationally, as one fueled by the oil and gas industry. That

industry has brought an influx of highly paid expatriate and

Nigerian workers to the poverty-plagued state. This influx

of affluent oil industry personnel attracts a comparable

influx of commercial sex workers. As proof of the expansion

of the problem, he said Rivers State HIV prevalence rate

increased from 3.3% in 1999 to 7.7% in 2001. Unlike most

states, however, Rivers has responded to the epidemic. The

state has established a multi-sectoral State Action Committee

on AIDS (SACA). The state government also provides a subsidy

of 10,000 naira per month (approximately $85) towards

anti-retroviral treatments and will soon provide free

treatment for HIV/AIDS positive women. Finally, on World AIDS

Day this year, Odili's government sponsored a social

mobilization campaign called "the Million Man March". Dr.

Matemilola's speech targeted "the waste (of funding) on

research" in an environment where poor HIV- positive women

cannot access Nevriapine in order to lessen mother-to-child

transmission of the virus. He also chided NACA and the

Ministry of Health for their on-going bureaucratic struggle

for control of the national HIV/AIDS effort. Matemilola

quoted the African proverb, "When two elephants fight, the

grass suffers", indicating that the national HIV/AIDS program

in general and people living with HIV/AIDS in particular have

suffered the negative consequences of the bureaucratic

tug-of-war. This statement drew a round of applause from the

12. In his speech, President Carter challenged the forum

participants to face their responsibility for combating

HIV/AIDS. He criticized African leaders who were in denial

and ignore the epidemic, while praising President Obasanjo

for leading the fight against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and in

Africa. He also stated that the battle against AIDS could not

be won if every government official were not actively engaged

in the fight. Carter challenged the forum to overcome the

social stigma of talking about HIV/AIDS and stressed the need

for information and education. The former President ended

his speech by saying: "My prayer is that everyone assembled

here, and everyone with whom you come in contact, will be

inspired to be active and enthusiastic and dedicated to the

13. The Aids Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN), a $25

million, three-year grantee of the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation, which had previously been criticized by the GON,

was showcased during the Forum. Seven of the program's

twenty speakers were associated with either the Gates

Foundation or with APIN, including Bill Gates, Sr., Dr.

Helene Gayle, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, and Phyllis Kanki.

APIN was applauded by the Minister of Health for helping

prepare Nigeria's proposals to the Global Fund. Jeffrey

Sachs received the greatest applause of the Forum following

his suggestion to "write postcards" to the international

lending institutions saying that Nigeria would no longer pay

its debts. According to Sachs, "The debt is unpayable and

should no longer be paid". Sachs estimated that Nigeria

needs $1 billion annually to fight HIV/AIDS, contrary to the

estimate of $226 million given by the NACA chairperson. He

also suggested that most of the $1.5 billion Nigeria pays

every year in debt servicing could be used to meet this gap

once the "postcards were sent". In addition, Sachs called

for greater involvement by the oil industry saying "no world

class business can be in this country without joining the

fight as their own economic survival is at stake." Dr. Pia

Malaney, also from Harvard, posited that Nigeria's GNP is

already 5% lower because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and, if not

contained, the toll will reach 25% by 2025.

14. The final event of the visit was the Sunday Church

service at Aso Villa Chapel. Reverend Y.A. Obaje, the Villa

Chaplain, said, "We consider President Carter to be a

brother. He cares about the poor. He cares about the sick. He

cares about the downtrodden. We consider him one of us."

Accordingly, the congregation was pleased to have President

Carter in their midst and to hear his sermon: "A Faith Based

Approach to HIV/AIDS." President Carter spoke directly to

issues of stigma and prevention, and emphasized that it was

imperative for religious leaders to discuss HIV/AIDS from the

pulpit. Carter's inspirational sermon reached an audience

beyond the immediate congregation. His message was broadcast

live on Nigerian TV and radio, and was replayed several times

during that day. Initial estimates indicate the radio

broadcast reached approximately 26 million people and the TV

broadcast reached an estimated 13 million. The Gates

Foundation is pursuing other avenues for wide dissemination

of Carter's message within the Christian media. (Note: After

consultation with some Islamic leaders, the delegation

decided that a different message was needed to reach the

15. There were numerous highlights of the Carter/Gates

visit. First, it helped educate the delegation on the

HIV/AIDS situation in Nigeria, emphasising the areas of

greatest needs. Secondly, the delegation was able to

generate unprecedented local attention while also focusing

the international spotlight on the problem of HIV/AIDS in

Nigeria. Accompanying the Carter/Gates team were Karen

DeYoung of the Washington Post and Lynelle Gradwell, Robert

Grant, Howard Smith and Keith Miller from NBC News. HIV/AIDS

received broad media coverage and attention from national,

state and local officials and policy-makers that otherwise

would have never occurred. Finally the delegation was able

to show the GON facets of the HIV/AIDS problem about which it

had previously been unaware, particularly the enormity of the

CSW issue. President Obasanjo has embraced the challenge that

HIV/AIDS presents, and appears ready not only to continue,

but to redouble his own efforts and efforts the of his

government to confront seriously the growing menace of

HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. From our perspective the Carter/Gates

Visit was well worth the effort. End Comment.

Today we are planning to cover some more cables of this kind. █

Update: Another cable shows Gates with the Clintons.

INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG PRIORITY 0113

SUBJECT: VISIT OF FORMER PRESIDENT CLINTON AND BILL AND MELINDA GATES

1. On 12 July 2006, Former U.S. President William Jefferson

Clinton visited Mafeteng, Lesotho, in connection with his AIDS

foundation. The Embassy provided vehicle and security support

(as requested by USSS), assistance with motorcade and liaison

with the GOL. Mr. William Gates and Mrs. Melinda Gates,

representing their charitable foundation, accompanied Mr.

Clinton. They greeted the Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers of

Foreign Affairs and Health and Social Welfare, Ambassador Perry,

health care officials, and patients. A brief press event was

held by the visitors with international and local press.

2. President George Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

(PEPFAR), which was well underway in Lesotho before the Clinton

Foundation arrived, has played a major role in sensitizing the

leadership of Lesotho and coordinating the many American

organizations working in the HIV/AIDS arena. The Clinton visit

highlighted the increasing international interest in and example

set by Lesotho. This leadership is reflected in the "Know Your

Status" campaign, which aims to test all Basotho twelve years

and up for their HIV status before the end of 2007. Lesotho's

Know Your Status campaign is reported to be the first

nation-wide testing response to the HIV epidemic and may become

a model for other countries that face or may face the HIV

epidemic. Large scale human resources have to become available

3. During the visit, the GOL reported that that Anti-Retroviral

Treatment (ART) adherence rate in Lesotho is eighty-nine

percent. ART adherence measures the number of patients who take

their medication in the right dosage on time more than eighty

percent of the time. For ARTs to be effective they must be

taken in accordance with prescription eighty percent of the

time. During a press Q and A, Mr. Clinton said these statistics

negate the theory that people in developing nations cannot and

will not take medication in accordance with prescriptions. He

said his foundation would help provide CD4 count machines.

(Note: The USG through CDC and DOD has contributed several in

country now.) To date, with adherence counselors and the

provision of child formula, 7,000 Basotho have received ARTs and

are living longer lives, according to a local phyisican. The

Clinton Foundation hopes to encourage the Gates Foundation to

4. International press at the event were CNN, NBC, MTV, the New

York Times, The New Yorker, Fortune, the Financial Times, the

Guardian, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Washington Post,

The Star and Business Day. Mr. Clinton, Mr. Gates and Mrs.

Gates gave an extended interview to NBC. Local media present

5. Local police and security were helpful, provided escorts and

worked closely with Secret Service Agents Chris Sigalos, Karen

Gerstbrein and Jeff Golaszweski. Post would like to commend the

efficiency and flexibility of these agents. Post would also

like to thank Vice-Consul Elizabeth Schlachter, TDY from

Johannesburg, for her work covering consular services during the

visit and Embassy Pretoria for its supportive role.

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● 09.07.11

●● Cablegate: Head of Microsoft Lobbies With Jimmy Carter (Updated)