The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [BMGF] on Monday announced $8.6bn budget for 2024.
The foundation said 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.
The budget, which is the largest, represents an increase of four per cent over last year and is a $2bn increase over the 2021 budget. The funding is coming as global contributions to health in the lowest-income countries are stalling,.
The foundation disclosed this in a press statement.
While overall aid spending has levelled off, sub-Saharan African countries saw a nearly eight per cent decline in aid in 2022, even as they face growing needs and shrinking budgets due to debt and other financial pressures.
The BMGF has committed to increasing its annual spending to $9bn by 2026.
The increased funding includes support for health innovations that could save million more lives by 2030.
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
“We can’t talk about the future of humanity without talking about the future of health,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation.
“Everyday, 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, one of the major focuses of the Gates 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 other leading causes of child mortality in low-income countries.
“An investment in global health is an investment in our future. When the world puts money behind proven solutions, it builds stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities for generations to come,” said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation.
“With low-income countries facing a whole host of challenges, now is the right time to recommit to saving lives and improving livelihoods,” she added.
An investment in global health is an investment in our future. When the world puts money behind proven solutions, it builds stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities
However, the foundation said despite the phenomenal progress, “millions of children in poor countries still die before their fifth birthday of preventable or treatable diseases, and nearly 300,000 women die during childbirth, while the tools exist to prevent their deaths.
“Ninety percent of the 340,000 women who die every year of cervical cancer live in low- and middle-income countries, even though there’s now a highly effective one-dose vaccine that can protect them against it,” the foundation noted.
