In January 2019, the Wall Street Journal published Bill Gates’ article, “The Best Investment I’ve Ever Made.” Gates believes that certain types of nonprofits are the best investments in all the world. He and Melinda have invested $10 billion into such charities. These charities are not sexy, and even though few people have heard of them, the return on their investment is the highest value play you can make. Especially when you compare it to stocks and bonds. Quechua Benefit is a mini version of the nonprofits Bill describes. Here is Bill’s case in his own words:
- I’ve always assumed that 10% of my technology investments will succeed—and succeed wildly.
- Change Discovering a new vaccine, I figured, would be just as hard as discovering the next tech unicorn. (Vaccines are much harder, it turns out.)
- One type of investment has surprised me. . . . It’s what people in the global-health business call “financing and delivery.” Decades ago, these investments weren’t sure bets, but today, they almost always pay off in a big way.
Bill describes exactly what Quechua Benefit’s anemia prevention campaigns do day in and day out. We organize mass distribution of iron deficiency anemia therapy to the remote highlands of Peru.
Gates continues, “When Melinda and I began investing in these funds back in 2000, our goal was to save lives and stop suffering, and by that measure these institutions have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. But they’ve also been successful in the way that investments traditionally are: They’ve created a lot of wealth, because when people aren’t sick in bed, they can go to work or school.”
Quechua Benefit has a unique strength. We efficiently manage mass delivery of essential services over a vast geographic area to remote communities. The indigenous population in our service area is 1,308,665.
Anemia is the world’s second leading cause of disability, behind only malaria. Anemia has a proven, simple and cost-effective cure. The first step is to treat its primary root cause in Peru: intestinal parasites that devour 25% of the nutrition consumed by their host, cause internal bleeding, fatigue, anemia, and malnutrition. The second step is to administer an inexpensive iron deficiency therapy.
Here’s what the experts say:
Between birth and 5 years of age an anemic child’s brain only develops in size to 75% of its potential.
The typical IQ of a child afflicted by anemia is 10 points less than his unafflicted peer.
In 2016, Quechua Benefit’s first anemia prevention campaign treated 1,000 children for parasites and cured 60% of the anemic children.
From 2016–2018 Quechua Benefit has treated 15,439 women and children.
When you generously invest your hard-earned money in Quechua Benefit, we can change the world for thousands, even millions of people. Will you join us to wipe out anemia among the Quechua people? With your support, we will.
