Research Study Raises Questions About Gates Foundation’s Health Grants

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation should increasingly be held accountable for the effectiveness of its grant making, according to a study published Friday in the medical journal the Lancet, the Associated Press reports.

“What we have is a private actor with a huge degree of influence, but not really a mechanism by which that influence is held to public account,” said David McCoy, who analyzed the $8.95-billion the world’s largest philanthropy gave to some 1,100 health organizations around the world from 1998 through 2007.

According to the report, nearly two-thirds of that money went to 20 organizations, many of which were based in the United States, some within miles of the foundation’s Seattle offices.

Philip Stevens, director of health policy at the International Policy Network, questioned the study, terming Mr. McCoy an activist who has criticized the principle of private involvement in health.