Gates Foundation budgets $8.6b towards improving lives

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has announced $8.6 billion 2024 budget towards saving and improving lives globally.

The amount, which was approved by its Board of Trustees, represents an increase of four per cent over last year and a $2 billion increase over the 2021 budget. It comes as global contributions to health in the lowest-income countries are stalling.

The foundation also expressed commitment to increasing its yearly spending to $9 billion by 2026.

A statement, made available to The Guardian, noted that the increased funding includes support for health innovations that could save millions more lives by 2030

It observed that with the global health budgets in decline, 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.

Co-chair of Gates Foundation, Bill Gates said: ‘We can’t talk about the future of humanity without talking about the future of health. Every day, 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.”

Co-chair of Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, stated that with low-income countries facing a whole host of challenges, it is the right time to recommit to saving lives and improving livelihoods.