Polio eradication is only one of many health initiatives funded by the Gates Foundation. It is an outlier in terms of total lives saved and was selected because the funding could leverage several generations of polio mortality reduction initiatives (iron-lungs, Saulk vaccine, Rotary PolioPlus) over into complete eradication.
Sure, you probably don't know any of those people. They don't have laptops or cars or spare cabins in the woods. And they certainly don't hang out at libertarian circle jerks.
A million children a year die from gastro-intestinal problems and diarrhea http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Ente...
1.3 million children died from pneumonia in 2011: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Pneu...
200 million people were afflicted with malaria in 2010: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Health/Mala...
Sure, you probably don't know any of those people. They don't have laptops or cars or spare cabins in the woods. And they certainly don't hang out at libertarian circle jerks.