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Bill Gates just made an alarming point about what could 'kill 10 million people in the next 30 years'

Jun 16, 2015, 05:05 IST

Forbes / screenshot

On June 3, Forbes hosted its fourth annual Summit on Philanthropy. Bill Gates was included on a panel discussing what went wrong with the global response to the Ebola epidemic and how to better prepare for future threats.

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One of his main points? "There no need to panic about the next Ebola epidemic," he said. Despite all our missteps the last time, now we're better prepared, with more awareness, better tools, and a more streamlined response.

Instead, we should worry about a future epidemic that is much more contagious than Ebola - one that spreads via the air, like a deadly flu, rather than via bodily fluids, like Ebola.

His next question shed light on just how under-prepared the US is for such a threat, compared to the threat of something like a major war. "What's more important," he asked, "having a standby military or a standby medical corps?"

He continued:

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In general, he pointed to how important government support and funding is to building the necessary public health infrastructure not only here but also abroad. "Philanthropy's not big enough to take on this whole problem," he said. "Government has the dominant role to play."

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