Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates believes that wealthier governments should boost their aid to African nations, which have received less funding recently due to the focus on Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis and global refugee support.
“There’s less money going to Africa at a time when they need it,” Gates told The Associated Press, highlighting the substantial funds directed toward Ukraine for various needs including debt relief, vaccinations, and combating malnutrition.
Gates made these comments in the context of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeeper’s report, released Tuesday.
The report assesses progress towards the development goals set in 2015 and evaluates efforts toward specific Sustainable Development Goals that align with the foundation’s priorities as one of the world’s largest global health funders.
This year’s Goalkeeper’s report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation highlights child malnutrition, which is expected to worsen due to climate change. The foundation is advocating for increased use of fortified foods, high-quality prenatal vitamins, and safer dairy products.
Habtamu Fekadu, managing director for nutrition at Save the Children, noted that progress in reducing malnutrition is insufficient and uneven.
He emphasized the need for large-scale prevention efforts, with exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months being the most cost-effective intervention.
Despite setbacks in achieving many development goals, Gates remains optimistic, stating, “I’m an optimist. I think we can give global health a second act even in a world where competing challenges require governments to stretch their budgets.”
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported in April that while overall development assistance from wealthy countries has risen annually since 2019 (excluding aid for refugees, COVID-19, and Ukraine), support for African nations dropped to a 20-year low of around 25% in 2022.
Many low- and middle-income countries, including those in Africa, are facing increased debt repayments.
MA June UN report highlighted that these debt burdens are constraining spending on essential services such as healthcare and education, with rising borrowing costs exacerbating the problem.
Bill Gates, when asked about his foundation’s potential role in advocating for debt relief, recalled the 2005 initiative where global leaders eliminated $40 billion in debt for 18 of the world’s poorest countries through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“In a just world, you would see a movement emerge on behalf of these poorest countries to have that happen again,” Gates stated.
The Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeeper’s report, released each September since 2017, has seen a shift this year.
Previously, both Bill Gates and his then-wife Melinda French Gates contributed to the report, but French Gates does not feature this time.
She announced her departure as co-chair in May, leaving Gates as the sole principal. Warren Buffett, a longtime supporter who left the board in 2021, had previously donated about $43 billion to the foundation.
This summer, Buffett revealed that his remaining fortune will go to his children rather than the Gates Foundation as originally planned.
Gates recently celebrated Warren Buffett’s 94th birthday with him in Omaha, Nebraska, praising him: “God bless Warren.”
He’s really unbelievable.” Regarding Melinda French Gates, he noted, “Having Melinda leave is unfortunate. Now, that frees her up to go do a lot of great philanthropic work on her own.”
Gates had given her $12.5 billion for charitable causes upon her departure. In June, French Gates committed to donating $1 billion over the next two years to organizations supporting women and families globally.
The Associated Press receives financial support for its Africa coverage from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for coverage of women from Melinda French Gates’ organization, Pivotal Ventures.
With a $75.2 billion endowment, the Gates Foundation plans to allocate $8.6 billion in grants for 2024. Gates stated, “We’re very lucky that my remaining resources allow us to keep being ambitious.”
Despite criticism from Jessica Sklair, an anthropologist at Queen Mary University of London, about the foundation’s influence on international development without democratic accountability, she notes that it will remain highly influential even without Buffett’s remaining fortune.
“They’ll still have enough money to do a lot of what they do,” she stated.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: Senegal faces Economic uncertainty amid snap Elections and IMF loan review