Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 12:26 AM UTC

jzwinck wrote: post #12

quotemstr wrote: post #2

Moral hazard?

Probably not. First this is a highly unusual event, not something other debtors could reasonably expect for themselves. Second, the money was used to fight polio, a terrible disease. Moral hazard would be Nigerians driving Ferraris purchased by Melinda and Bill. This is not that. If the Gates want to eliminate such diseases, they must be elated to see effective programs spending their money to do it.

Post by adventured » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 12:29 AM UTC

oculusthrift wrote: post #49

diego_moita wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the correct perspective. It seems that, Reddit style, many people here comment just the titles, don't read the articles. Polio is on the way to complete eradication all over the world. AFAIK the only place where it remains endemic is Baluchistan in Pakistan where the warlords are suspicious of vaccination agents. Victory on polio is a fantastic story that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

well last time they claimed to be giving vaccines in pakistan it was to collect genetic information against a us target.

Post by jackaroe78 » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 12:30 AM UTC

tyrust wrote: post #48

diego_moita wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the correct perspective. It seems that, Reddit style, many people here comment just the titles, don't read the articles. Polio is on the way to complete eradication all over the world. AFAIK the only place where it remains endemic is Baluchistan in Pakistan where the warlords are suspicious of vaccination agents. Victory on polio is a fantastic story that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

>Reddit style Just as much HN style, where top comments frequently bring up old discussions completely unrelated to the article's content (e.g. js article -> js is a mess, blockchain article -> blockchain is a bubble, megacorp article -> this is why i never use megacorp's products)

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 12:33 AM UTC

yipopov wrote: post #53

labster wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, truly how terrible they are to spend money encouraging the eradication of polio.

>Yes, truly how terrible they are to spend money encouraging the eradication of polio. Yes, that was what the loan was for. Even if it all went to its intended purpose, that doesn't excuse apparently not budgeting for any repayment. I expect that money is currently lining someone's pocket in Lagos. I'd have been more impressed if they spent the money directly to tackle the next challenge and letting the politicians a…

Post by danjoc » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 12:38 AM UTC

simplemath__ wrote: post #20

To all the commenters too busy being aghast at giving money to a government to read the article: > Nigeria’s debt to Japan is the result of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the Japanese government in 2014 for increased polio eradication. efforts. > The country has made great strides in its efforts to eliminate the disease thanks to this funding. > Nigeria did not record a wild case of polio from July…