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Posted by Dennis on 17:35:44 2004/02/26
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Attn: Administrators
PO Box 23350
Seattle, Washington 98102
Dearest Sir or Madam,
There are an estimated 5 million people worldwide that must take insulin everyday due to type 1 diabetes. The costs, risks and burden of living with this disease 24 hours a day, every day are very high. In the US we spend about 13 billion dollars per year treating type 1 diabetes. Given the huge costs of this disease, I suggest a good use of funds is to invest in a cure for it; to relieve the sufferers of the disease from the daily struggle of it, and to relieve the healthcare systems all over the world from the costs of it.
For 81 years diabetics have had to treat this disease with daily insulin doses. My little girl has dealt with diabetes every day since June 1st, 2001. Since that time she has been stuck with more than 11,000 painful needles for blood tests and insulin injections. She has experienced high and low blood sugar incidences that cause convulsions and vomiting. Please help us.
I believe the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International is an effective organization in the development of a cure. It is patient-centered and cure-focused. Diabetes Research Institute in Miami is also a good research organization that is patient-staffed and specifically focused on a cure. Also Dr. Denise Faustman of Harvard is working on promising research that is in need of funding.
Thank you sincerely for your consideration.
A friendly and concerned reply was promtly sent, indicating that type 1 diabetes currently falls outside the foundation's program guidlines. The administrator said the foundation instead focuses on life threatening global health problems in the developing world, education programs, and programs to improve the lives of the most vulnerable members of the Pacific Northwest region.
"We recognize that health needs are not over funded in this country but, as compared with the developing world, the disparity is truly enormous."
Just a thought:
I wish there was a way to put the billions of dollars we spend in the US on drug company advertising and promotion instead into disease cure research. It seems to be a more useful place for the resources, for everyone...in the long run anyway.
Dennis
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