Gates Foundation gives $279M grant to Univ. of Wash. Institu

Fortunately, there is a world class institution right on the foundation’s doorstep in Seattle that is an invaluable source of data and evidence on global health trends: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

You’ve maybe never heard of the IHME but it has been a game-changer in global health. Before the IHME began its work a decade ago, data on global health trends were typically inconsistent and thus not especially reliable. That’s not much use to people trying to develop policies to fight diseases or make decisions on where to invest scarce resources.

Thanks to the IHME, we now have standardized health metrics across a range of different diseases for countries broken down by age, sex, and population. And this meticulous analysis allows policymakers and public health practitioners to identify ways to better fight a range of diseases. In my book, that makes the IHME’s work a true global good.

Our foundation is among many organizations that have benefited hugely from the IHME’s insights as we decide where we can have the greatest impact, and we are committed to helping the institution expand its programs. So today we are announcing a $279 million grant to the IHME.