The Gates Foundation will not change course in the face of massive foreign aid cuts, holding out hope that the US will return to funding global health projects, its CEO said on Tuesday. The foundation will concentrate at least 70% of its funding over the next 20 years on ending preventable maternal and child deaths and controlling key infectious diseases. A third goal focused on poverty will divide its work between US education and agriculture in poorer countries.
Mark Suzman, CEO of the foundation, said: 'We are saying not only will we not be taking on new priorities, we’re actively narrowing our priorities against three core North Star goals.' The foundation, started by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in 2000, announced in May that it would close in 20 years, earlier than planned. In an annual update, Suzman gave more details about what work would end and what would continue.
Suzman affirmed that the foundation would not rethink its plans given cuts to foreign assistance by donor countries. He wrote: 'While these conditions will have significant repercussions for global health and development for the next few years, priorities can shift. Debt can be restructured. Generosity can return.' The foundation will renew its campaign for donor countries to fund global health, specifically arguing for saving the lives of pregnant women and young children.
The US has historically been the largest funder of global health, but it is not yet clear how much Congress and the Trump administration will allocate this year. The US has refused to fund Gavi, which offers vaccinations to children, but pledged to contribute to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Suzman said: 'We definitely have not lost hope that the US will stay engaged over the medium and longer term as a champion of global health.'
The foundation will wind down its program to give people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia access to digital financial services, and end its US poverty program launched in 2022. The economic mobility work will continue in a modified form as a partnership to develop AI tools for frontline workers. For the next five years, the foundation plans to hold its budget steady at $9 billion annually, then increase spending to meet Gates’ commitment to spend his fortune by 2045.
