The Gates Foundation will spend $2.5 billion over the next five years on projects related to women\u2019s health, just as the US government pulls back on science research and international development.<\/p>\n
Bill Gates, chair of the foundation and co-founder of Microsoft Corp., also told Bloomberg in an interview that he recently spoke with President Donald Trump about the foundation\u2019s years-long work with the National Institutes of Health on a gene-based cure for HIV.<\/p>\n
Trump was curious about the project, but Gates told him that the current level of backing was unknown.
\n\u201cI said, \u2018No, it\u2019s still up in the air how much US government support we\u2019ll get for that,\u2019\u201d Gates said he told the president. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The Gates Foundation announcement provides the most detail yet on one area where the foundation plans to use its remaining funds before it shuts down in 2045. This tranche of money will focus on women\u2019s health, targeting critical areas that particularly hit women in low- and middle-income countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s health continues to be ignored, underfunded, and sidelined,\u201d Gates said in a statement earlier Monday. \u201cToo many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health. That must change.\u201d
\nThe Gates Foundation previously said it would spend $200 billion over the next 20 years to close out its operations, a quicker timeline than its original plan of shuttering 20 years after Gates\u2019 death.<\/p>\n
The US pulled out of the World Health Organization in January, then in March shut down the US Agency for International Development, which managed tens of billions of dollars of foreign aid. The government has also made it more difficult for researchers to get funding, cutting staff across federal health agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funder of biomedical research.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, there\u2019s been some short-term disruption and uncertainty,\u201d Gates said in the interview.<\/p>\n
Gates said that he also met with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about two weeks ago and talked about things they could work together on.<\/p>\n
Gates was optimistic about the future of US research and development funding. \u201cI really don\u2019t know that it\u2019s going to be that disrupted,\u201d he said. \u201cThat may sound optimistic, and I may end up being wrong about that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The billionaire, along with his former wife Melinda French Gates, have given $60.2 billion to the foundation through the end of 2024.<\/p>\n
The foundation says its new spending will support a myriad of projects, including portable ultrasound machines used during pregnancy, contraception delivered via microneedle patches stuck on the skin and basic research on the microbiome. It called on other public and private entities to increase funding for women\u2019s health.<\/p>\n
Industry support is particularly important, said Rasa Izadnegahdar, director of maternal, newborn, child nutrition and health at the Gates Foundation. Pharmaceutical companies have the expertise to take early research and move it through into product development, he said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see this need for other bigger players to actually come along, particularly those in industry, to move this forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Gates Foundation will spend $2.5 billion over the next five years on projects related to women\u2019s health, just as the US government pulls back on science research and international development. Bill Gates, chair of the foundation and co-founder of Microsoft Corp., also told Bloomberg in an interview that he recently spoke with President Donald […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[265],"class_list":{"0":"post-1267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sitefansalaran-international-news","8":"tag-gates-foundation-commits-2-5-billion-for-womens-health"},"yoast_head":"\n