Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reminds us of the good news of 2014

The founder posted 5 positive new stories on his blog

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As a year seemingly filled with unrest, disease, and death comes to an end - from the rise of Isis, to revolution in Ukraine and the spread of Ebola - billionaire business magnate Bill Gates has compiled a list of positive news stories that got buried.

Declaring that he wants to “celebrate some of the good news too” on his blog, Gates cites that for the 42nd year in a row, more children are living to see their fifth birthday than ever before.

“It’s hard to think of a better sign the world is improving,” he says.

Children are now living longer

(REX/WestEnd61)

His second cause for celebration is data released this month which showed that more people are getting treatment for HIV than are becoming infected. Gates calls the development “a big milestone”.

The Microsoft co-founder goes on to flag that cheap and effective vaccines have helped more children survive the diarrheal disease Rotavirus than ever before; and that a new treatment for TB – one of the world’s biggest killers – has proven effective in early research.

Gates concludes by praising Nigeria for a "pretty good year" from a healthcare perspective. He adds this was overshadowed by the deadly Ebola virus, which has killed 6,841, mainly in West Africa, and suspected repeated attacks by Islamic extremists Boko Haram.

“The infrastructure Nigeria has built to fight polio actually made it easier for them to swiftly contain Ebola,” he writes on his blog, GatesNotes.

Named American’s richest man by Forbes this year, Gates, 59, is best-known for co-founding and heading Microsoft. In 2000, he and his wife Melinda set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has since given away $30million for causes in the US and the developing world.