With millions of children's lives at stake, Bill Gates says global humanity is at crossroads

BILLIONAIRE philanthropist Bill Gates at his Foundation's 2025 Goalkeepers event on Monday at New York issued a stark but hopeful call to world leaders: save millions of children's lives and cure some of the deadliest diseases in history by 2045.

- NISTHAR CASSIM IN NEW YORK

"Humanity is at a crossroads. With millions of children’s lives on the line, global leaders have a once-in-a-generation chance to do something extraordinary," Gates told the 2025 Goalkeepers event with an audience of over 1,000 global government, community, philanthropy, and private-sector leaders and the media including the Daily FT.

“The choices they make now—whether to go forward with proposed steep cuts to health aid or to give the world’s children the chance they deserve to live a healthy life—will determine what kind of future we leave for the next generation,” Gates added.

It was revealed that this year, donor countries dealing with domestic challenges, high debt levels, and aging populations made dramatic funding cuts to global development assistance for health (DAH).

According to a recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), global DAH fell by 21% between 2024 and 2025, and is now at a 15-year low. With key global health funding decisions expected before the end of the year, total funding levels could rise.

However, Gates warned that if the current cuts hold, they threaten decades of progress that saw child mortality cut in half since 2000-from 10 million children to less than 5 million children a year-one of humanity's greatest achievements.

During the annual event, which this year focused on reigniting a shared commitment to saving children's lives, Gates announced his foundation's pledge of $912 million over three years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's 2026-2028 replenishment. The Global Fund is one of the most effective lifesaving initiatives of the 21st century. Its fundraising replenishment cycle ends this November, underscoring the urgency for governments to make pivotal decisions in the coming weeks and months for the lives of millions of people.