Every year, approximately 8.2 million people worldwide die from cancer.
Bill Gates believes that number will drop dramatically in the coming years.
"In medicine, we've had a lot of miracles, and I think all of us expect and count on more," he says in an interview with Tech Insider. "In the next 30 years, I really do think cancer will largely be a solved problem."
That may seem like quite a feat, but Gates believes it's a realistic vision of the future. In his 2016 annual letter, he's counting on more medical miracles for other diseases too.
He admits that disease eradication in less developed regions will be a challenge, but expects the world will make unprecedented progress in health in the fairly near future.
If we reflect on the cures the world has achieved just since 1990, we have an incredible track record, Gates writes. We've discovered crucial vaccines for diseases like polio, and the number of children who die under age 5 has been cut in half.
"We predict that the next 15 years will see the pace of these developments increase even faster," he writes.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working on initiatives to help eradicate diseases worldwide, including malaria, polio, HIV/AIDS, and guinea worm. The foundation's latest efforts include disease control research and a $776 million investment in fighting child mortality and malnutrition.
Gates says increased investment in medical research and development could lead us to the next breakthrough.
"I think most of the infectious diseases like malaria — our foundation is very involved — once we're finishing polio eradication, then starting up this malaria eradication, and getting that done as fast as we can," he tells Tech Insider.
