Bill Gates pledges $lb for global disease fight, urges govts to step up

The Gates Foundation will give US$912 million (S$1 billion) to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, philanthropist Bill Gates announced on Sept 22 as he urged governments to reverse global health funding cuts.

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Speaking at a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York, Mr Gates said the world was at a crossroads, with millions of children at risk of dying if funding drops too steeply.

The Gates Foundation’s pledge matches its donation in 2022. That was the last time the Global Fund, a Geneva-based independent nonprofit, raised money on its three-year budget cycle.

The announcement follows deep aid cuts from governments around the world, led by the United States.

“A kid born in northern Nigeria has a 15 per cent chance of dying before the age of five. You can either be part of improving that or act like that doesn’t matter,” Mr Gates said in an interview before the foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event in New York on Sept 22. The event celebrates and seeks to accelerate progress on United Nations global development goals set for 2030, including improving health and ending poverty.