The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced that it will spend more than seven billion dollars over the next four years to support African countries in addressing hunger, disease, gender inequality, and poverty challenges.
This commitment comes in addition to existing funding from the foundation to numerous multilateral organisations working to strengthen health systems in Africa.
Majority of Africa, mostly the poor and middle class, rely on underfunded public health facilities, according to a report by the United Nations (UN).
Also, one in five people in sub-Saharan Africa faces hunger due to armed conflicts, droughts, surging food prices, inequity and weak infrastructure.
Addressing a group of students at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, Co-Chair of the foundation, Bill Gates, said Africa’s young population have the talent and opportunity to accelerate progress and help solve the world’s most pressing problem.
‘The big global challenges we face are persistent. But we have to remember, so are the people solving them’, he said.
‘Our foundation will continue to support solutions in health, agriculture, and other critical areas—and the systems to get them out of the labs and to the people who need them’.
For her part, Melinda Gates assured that the foundation will equip the workforce with the right skills to provide solutions to the continent’s challenges.
‘Every day, men and women across Africa are rising to meet the biggest challenges facing their families, communities, and countries’, she said.
‘The foundation will continue to invest in the researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and health care workers who are working to unlock the tremendous human potential that exists across the continent’.
According to the foundation, 278 million people across Africa suffer from chronic hunger, with more than 37 million people facing acute hunger in the Horn of Africa alone.
The foundation also called on global leaders to step up their commitments to finding solutions and strengthening systems in African countries.
Source: Gates Foundation
Photo source: ICSI
