Gates made the call while speaking at a newsmaker event in New York, saying the world was at crossrorads, with millions of children at risk of dying if funding drops too steeply.

According to him, a kid born in northern Nigeria has a 15% chance of dying before the age of five.

“You can either be part of improving that or act like that doesn’t matter,” Gates said in an interview before the foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event in New York.

Following the deep aid cuts from government around the world, led by the United State of America, The Gates Foundation announced a $912 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

The Gates Foundation, the philanthropy started by the Microsoft co-founder and his then-wife in 2000, is one of the world’s biggest funders of global health initiatives, with a particular focus on ending preventable deaths of mothers and babies, tackling infectious diseases, and lifting millions out of poverty.

Earlier this year, Gates pledged to give away almost his entire $200 billion fortune by 2045, more quickly than planned because of the urgent need worldwide.

According to the U.S.-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, global development assistance fell by 21% between 2024 and 2025 and is now at a 15-year low.

That could still change, said Gates, with organisations like the Global Fund trying to raise money before the end of the year. But if the trajectory remains the same, progress that cut child mortality in half since 2000, saving five million lives a year, could be in jeopardy, he said in a statement.

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Gates said that there was still an opportunity to save millions of lives and end some of the deadliest childhood diseases by the time he will have donated the rest of his fortune in 2045.

That would require maintaining funding for institutions like the Global Fund as well as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, prioritising primary healthcare and rolling out innovations, such as the long-acting HIV prevention drug lenacapavir – quickly.

Source: Channels

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Gates stated this during his address at the National Economic Council meeting held at the Council Chambers of the State House.

He disclosed that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had invested over $2.8bilion in Nigeria, quoting the figures as the Foundation’s largest commitment in all of Africa.

The philanthropist said while Nigeria’s economic leaders had made some difficult decisions by unifying the exchange rate, the next hurdle was to raise revenue, noting that although taxes were not popular, citizens would be inclined to pay if they saw the government spending the money to give them a better life.

Addressing the health sector, Gates said while the world had reduced the number of children who died before five by half through investments in primary health care, 2.2 million Nigerian children had never gotten a vaccine dose, pointing out that Nigeria spent only N3,000 on primary health care per person, in a year.

He further urged Nigeria to embrace the new generation of innovative crop varieties that have shorter growing periods, higher yields, and greater resistance to pests, as part of solutions to solve the food crisis in the country

Gates noted that even though Nigeria was the world’s largest producer of cassava, demand still exceeded the supply while calling for a speed-up of regulatory processes to approve the new crop varieties

He said to make the most of new crop varieties, Nigeria needs to speed up the regulatory process to approve them.

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Gates said this during an interview session with selected journalists on the sidelines of the 2024 NutriVision Dialogue in Abuja.

According to him, helping reduce health inequality globally is the top priority of the foundation, including getting rid of diseases like measles, malaria, and polio.

Gates further said that the foundation planned to spend more in the future, disclosing that the funding would be centered on improving primary health care.

He said that aside from health, the foundation also invests lots of money in the agriculture sector, noting that boosting agricultural productivity was critical to Nigeria’s economic development.

This, he said, would be achievable through access to high-yield and climate-resistant seeds, fertilizers, improved and timely information, and better weather predictions for farmers.

According to him, this will significantly boost agricultural output and lower food costs.

The philanthropist said that the foundation supports partners in implementing food fortification of some staple foods, noting that this improves the nutritional quality of food supply and provides a public health benefit.

He emphasised that having access to a variety of low-cost foods, especially, milk and eggs, is quite powerful in reducing malnutrition noting that the time was apt to utilise innovative ideas and tools in the health and agricultural sectors to substantially reduce malnutrition.

It was gathered that since its inception in 2000, the foundation has supported partnerships with African regional institutions, national governments, and local communities in 49 African countries.

The foundation contributes funding and scientific expertise in support of their agendas for change.

These partnerships have driven the success of numerous health, agriculture, equality, and anti-poverty initiatives.

The foundation has committed more than $7 billion through 2026 to support African countries and institutions working to develop and implement innovative approaches to confront hunger, disease, gender inequality, and poverty.

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