Gates Foundation to invest $8.6bn in health programmes

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Monday, unveiled plans to allocate $8.6 billion for its health intervention programmes in 2024 in Nigeria. 

The budget represents an increase of 4% over last year and a $2 billion increase over the 2021 budget. 

The foundation noted that with global health budgets in decline overall, a portion of the additional funding will go toward advancing global health innovations that will save and improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people, including newborn babies and pregnant mothers living in low-income communities. 

Bill Gates, who co-founded the foundation in 2000 with his then-wife Melinda, reiterated the foundation’s commitment, stating, “We can’t talk about the future of humanity without talking about the future of health. 

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“Every day, newborn babies and young children die simply because of where they were born. Mothers die giving birth, leaving families devastated. That keeps me up at night. It’s unacceptable, particularly because we have already developed many of the solutions that could save their lives. Building a stronger, more stable world starts with good health.” 

Since its inception in 2000, the Gates Foundation has been focused on fighting the world’s greatest inequities, creating programmes that address issues such as gender equality, agricultural development, and public education. 

A major focus for the foundation has been on reducing inequities in health by funding the development of new tools and strategies to reduce the burden of infectious diseases and the leading causes of child mortality in low-income countries. 

To drive home their commitment and showcase potential solutions, Gates and other foundation executives plan to carry backpacks at the World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland. 

The backpacks will feature simple health products capable of saving millions of lives, ranging from vaccine patches to an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled ultrasound tool. Gates is also set to discuss the broader potential of AI in healthcare during the event.