•Speaking with University of Nairobi students, Bill Gates praises drive and optimism of young people in Kenya and across the continent
•This is his first trip to Africa since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
American philanthropist Bill Gates has announced his foundation will spend about Sh855 billion (US$7 billion) across Africa over the next four years.
He said the funding will promote innovations that confront hunger, disease, gender inequality and poverty.
Gates made the announcement late Thursday in his press conference with journalists and at his address at the University of Nairobi.
This is his first trip to Africa since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Gates arrived in Kenya on Monday night and leaves on Friday.
The Sh854 billion commitment is to support African countries in addition to existing Gates Foundation funding to multilateral organizations, including Gavi, and the Global Fund.
These resources have helped strengthen health systems and increase access to health care in African countries, contributing to dramatic reductions in the rate of child deaths from diseases such as diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, malaria and measles.
This week, Gates visited primary healthcare centres, smallholder farms to listen to and learn from Kenyan and regional partners about what programs and approaches are making an impact, what obstacles remain, and how the foundation can better support future progress.
He also visited the Kenya Medical Research Institute on Thursday and met President William Ruto.
Speaking to more than 500 students at the University of Nairobi—and thousands more across Africa who tuned in virtually—Bill Gates said Africa’s young people have the talent and opportunity to accelerate progress and help solve the world’s most pressing problems.
“The big global challenges we face are persistent. But we have to remember, so are the people solving them,” Gates 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.”
He reminded students to finish their degrees.
"I dropped [from Harvard] because I was in a rush. But I remain a student taking many online courses," he said.
His funding commitment comes as the world is grappling with overlapping global crises that are worsening hunger, malnutrition, and poverty for millions.
Today, about four million Kenyans suffer from chronic hunger, with more than 37 million people facing acute hunger in the Horn of Africa alone.
Covid-19 has also caused significant setbacks in immunisation and stalled decades of progress made in combating HIV/Aids, malaria, and tuberculosis.
In his visit to Kemri, Gates had a brief consultative meeting Director General Prof. Sam Kariuki and top directors.
Kemri is one of the recipients of collaborative research funding from The Gates Foundation for close to two decades.
During his visit, Gates was taken through a number of research projects on Maternal and Child Health including the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (Champs), Pregnancy Risk Surveillance Innovation and Measurement Alliance (PRiSMA) and Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition Network (CHAIN).
There are collaborative projects between Kemri, Ministry of Health and Centre for Disease Research (CDC), Phillips Kenya, the University of Washington, Wellcome Trust and University of Oxford respectively.
Since the foundation’s inception, it has supported partnerships with African governments and communities, which have driven the success of numerous health, agricultural, equality, and anti-poverty initiatives.
“Every day, men and women across Africa are rising to meet the biggest challenges facing their families, communities, and countries,” Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said in a statement.
“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.”
The foundation also called on global leaders to step up their commitments to finding solutions and strengthening systems in African countries.
“Millions of Africans are feeling the acute impacts of geopolitical instability and climate change, so it is critical that we work together,” Mark Suzman, Gates Foundation CEO said.
“In close collaboration with our African partners, we will invest in local institutions and new collaborations that build the long-term resilience needed to make these crises less frequent and less devastating.”
In the last two years, the foundation has funded partners working to provide immediate action and long-term support to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, improve disease surveillance, increase locally led R&D and the number of health care workers in Africa, advance gender equality and women’s financial inclusion, and combat malaria and neglected tropical diseases.