Gates urges global leaders to stick to aid commitments

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has asked global leaders to stick to their aid commitments even in difficult times as it will help poor people all over the world achieve self-sufficiency.

In his fourth annual letter, Bill Gates -- the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founder of software giant Microsoft -- challenged global leaders to invest in innovations that are accelerating progress against poverty, or risk a future in which millions needlessly starve.

Difficult economic times are causing leaders and the public around the world to question their aid commitments, but Gates believes it is more important than ever that they stick to those commitments so they can help people build self-sufficiency and overcome the need for aid.

"The world faces a choice. By spending a relatively little amount of money on proven solutions, we can help poor farmers feed themselves and their families and continue writing the story of a steadily more equitable world," Gates wrote in the letter.

"Or we can decide to tolerate a very different world in which one in seven people needlessly lives on the edge of starvation," he added.

Gates appreciated India's resoluteness in fighting polio. India marked one year without identifying a single case of wild poliovirus this month.

This is a major milestone for global polio eradication and for children's health worldwide, he said, as only three years ago, India had more polio cases than any nation.