So The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will spend more money than ever before this year: As the foundation reported at the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the budget will increase by 4 percent compared to the previous year and even by 2 billion dollars compared to 2021. A total of $8.6 billion is now available for the current year.
The foundation justifies the increase, among other things, by the fact that health spending in the lowest-income countries has stagnated. According to the information, the African countries south of the Sahara in particular suffered a decline in aid of almost 8 percent in 2022, despite growing needs and shrinking budgets. Against this background, the Gates Foundation has also committed to increasing its annual spending to $9 billion by 2026.
“We cannot talk about the future of humanity without talking about the future of health,” Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, is quoted as saying in the statement: “Newborns and young children die every day simply because they were born there . Mothers die in childbirth, leaving families devastated. This is unacceptable, especially because we have already developed many of the solutions that could save their lives. “Building a stronger, more stable world starts with good health.”
Preventable deaths despite effective medicines
Since its founding in 2000, the Gates Foundation has focused on addressing the world's greatest inequalities – and has developed programs that address issues such as gender equality, agricultural development and public education. Despite all the progress, millions of children in poor countries still die before their fifth birthday from preventable or treatable diseases. And nearly 300,000 women die during childbirth, despite the resources to prevent their deaths. 90 percent of the 340,000 women who die from cervical cancer each year live in low- and middle-income countries, even though there is now a highly effective vaccine that can protect them from the disease with a single dose.
At The Future of Health event at the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates plans to unveil several health innovations funded by the foundation and developed by its partners that could save the lives of women and children. He also highlights the role that artificial intelligence and other technologies can play in transforming healthcare and improving the lives of people in low-income countries.
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