If you don't invest in the woman, empower her, give her the things she needs to lift her family up, you're just not going to make the progress that you want to make. But if you put her at the centre, you can change a lot for that family, and it has ripple effects through the economy.

Bill [Gates] and I believe philanthropy can only be effective if it starts things and proves whether they actually work or not. That's the place that governments often don't want to, or can't, work.

Bill and I both firmly believe that even the most difficult global health problems can be solved.

You can't save kids just with vaccines.

Philanthropy is not about the money. It's about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips and applying them to improving the world.

If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.

Take time to learn about the lives of women around the world-and try to play a small part in their fight to create the future they deserve.