Prince William presents award to Melinda Gates for humanitarian work

Philanthropist Melinda Gates was presented an award by Britain's Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, on Friday (November 21) for her humanitarian work.

Gates, wife of Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates and co-founder and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was awarded the 2014 Chatham House Prize in central London.

"Civil society, whether in the form of business, academic institutions, NGOs or philanthropic organizations, play a critical role in shaping international relations and in working for a fairer and more peaceful and healthier world. No one can provide us with a better example of the impact such organisations can have, when led with vision, commitment and unstinting generosity than this year's Chatham House Prize winner, Melinda Gates," Prince William said at the award ceremony.

"With an equally remarkable husband Bill, Melinda set up the Gates Foundation to change the world, and changed it she has, transforming the lives of women, the poor, the sick and the disadvantaged in Africa and elsewhere. What a wonderful example it is to others, and how fitting it is to add Melinda Gates' name to the Chatham House Prize list," he continued to say.

The Duke then presented the award, a scroll signed by Queen Elizabeth II, to Gates.

"People talk about the runaway Ebola epidemic, which is absolutely crucial to talk about and it's devastating, but we also connect other issues to it that we shouldn't. We talk about a continent that's been ruled by dictators and corruption. We talk about Africa sometimes as hopeless, and I'm here to tell you that is absolutely not the case," said Gates in her acceptance speech.

"Bill and I have been travelling for this work for over 15 years now, and what we see is unbelievable ingenuity of the people there, and if given the right information and the right tools, they will lift themselves up, lift their families up, communities and nations, and it's the thoughtful conversation that we have in groups like the Chatham House that allows us to discuss what's really possible and what can be done," she added.

Gates, whose foundation is one of the largest philanthropic funders of global health projects in poor countries, spearheaded an international summit in London in 2012 aimed at making access to birth control a central part of health and development aid projects in developing countries.

The Gates Foundation alone pledged $560 million, bringing donor funding pledges for the plan to $2.6 billion.

It is also one of the charities immersed in the fight to control the Ebola epidemic, having pledged $50 million and committing the first $12 million to the World Health Organization, the US Fund for UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. — Reuters