Bill Gates says he’ll give away $200 billion—here’s where ‘the majority of that funding will be spent’

Bill Gates is moving forward with plans to give away $200 billion over the next 20 years, and the billionaire now says the “majority” of that money will go toward improving public health and education services in Africa.

Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, UK, on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The billionaire climate tech investor said artificial intelligence will "pay for itself" when it comes to its associated greenhouse gas emissions as the technology will help push forward the energy transition. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gates announced on May 8 that he plans to give away nearly all of his personal wealth and shutter his nonprofit Gates Foundation by 2045.

On Monday, Gates offered some more specifics: “The majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa,” he said in an address at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

That spending will be directed toward initiatives that address the three main goals Gates outlined in his May announcement:

      Funding advances in education and agriculture in African nations to help “hundreds of millions of people break free from poverty”
      Eradicating diseases like polio, malaria, measles and Guinea-worm disease
      Reducing the deaths of mothers and young children from preventable causes

Africa particularly needs health and education resources: Nearly half a billion people there live below the poverty line, according to 2021 data from the United Nations.

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Improving global healthcare and education have long been major focuses of Gates’ philanthropic foundation, which he launched with now-ex-wife Melinda French Gates in 2000.

Gates has publicly asked world governments to increase aid funding to African nations, noting that “there’s less money going to Africa at a time when they need it,” he told The Associated Press in September.

In a May 8 blog post, he called out wealthy nations, including the U.S., for cutting “tens of billions of dollars” from their global aid budgets over the past two years.

“No philanthropic organization — even one the size of the Gates Foundation — can make up the gulf in funding that’s emerging right now,” wrote Gates.

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On Monday, Gates lauded African government leaders, health workers and development organizations who partner with his foundation for embracing “innovation” with limited funding, citing insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets for fighting malaria and artificial intelligence-enabled ultrasound technology for identifying high-risk pregnancies.

“I’ve always been inspired by the hard work of Africans even in places with very limited resources,” said Gates.

“The kind of field work to get solutions out, even in the most rural areas, has been incredible.”

The Gates Foundation opened its first African office in Addis Ababa in 2012 and has since added offices in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal, the foundation noted in its press release detailing Gates’ address at AU headquarters.

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“By unleashing human potential through health and education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity – and that path is an exciting thing to be part of,” Gates said in his address.

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