Two weeks ago Melinda Gates used the E word. I want to share what she said, and what Bill Gates said too, and why it is so directly related to the way we confront hunger and other seemingly unsolvable social issues.

It is an article of faith among experts in malaria research to never talk about eradication of the disease, but instead to set goals for controlling it. Several times over the past fifty years it was believed that the world was on the verge of eradicating malaria. The result of premature celebrations was a decrease in focus, funding, and research, and soon a dramatic increase in the prevalence of the disease. Discussion of eradication has been seen as somewhere between naïve and recklessly dangerous. Two weeks ago that all changed.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted a forum in Seattle on malaria, drawing in prominent experts from around the globe. The forum was webcast, and here are a few excerpts from Melinda's passionate opening address:

"In the history of humanity, it's likely that no disease has ever caused more suffering, more sickness, and more death than malaria...But over the course of the last century, malaria changed from a disease that afflicted a broad range of countries to a disease that affected only poor countries. It changed from a celebrated cause of our scientists and politicians to a source of suffering that the rich world was willing to accept and the poor world was helpless to prevent."

"Now we have a historic opportunity not just to treat malaria or to control it but to chart a long term course to eradicate it."

Anticipating the concern of those in the audience with far more expertise than her, she added: "We know the word eradication is troubling to some of you in this room. It is an audacious goal. But to aspire to less is far too timid a goal and a waste of talent and a waste of intelligence. And it is wrong and unfair to people who suffer from the disease. When you ask people to donate time and money to save lives, they can be very generous. When you ask them to give time and money to eradicate a disease, their generosity can multiply. There are also risks. Failure can sap morale and lead to cuts in funding. But eradication has the power to create great expectations, grand efforts, and record funding."

I've been following developments in this field diligently because the strategies being deployed are probably the most advanced in the nonprofit sector. They suggest new ways of thinking, and a new glimpse of what is possible, not only for fighting tropical diseases, but for fighting hunger, poverty, and a wide range of social ills.

At Share Our Strength we know a little bit about the E word. The pros and cons that Melinda Gates articulated were almost identical to those we heard from our own colleagues when we debated whether to set a goal of ending childhood hunger. Not reducing it, but ending it. Many of the experts in our community cautioned us about the complexities of measuring, and the risk of failure. But as Gates understood in making her remarks yesterday, the experts are often expert in what has been, not what could be.

Today's world is different in critical ways from that earlier time and place marked by failure. There is greater knowledge of what works and what doesn't. There is greater ability to share that knowledge. There are more resources available than ever before.

Although many still have their doubts, the goal of eradicating malaria became credible again last week. The financial resources of the Gates Foundation obviously induce people to listen. But so do audacious goals, and the determination of someone with more vision than expertise, willing to take a risk, and unwilling to accept the status quo.