Bill Gates, the World’s Richest Man, and the Future of Children’s Healthcare: Addressing the Childhood Deaths of the Poorest Children
He said this is the most exciting work the foundation has done and is waiting to be delivered.
It was difficult to keep up with his research, as he discovered many more obscure diseases, like the lymphatic filariasis andVisceral leishmaniasis. He predicts that maternal-mortality rates in the developing world could be brought into rough parity with those in the rich world, and that childhood deaths could be cut in half.
Bill Gates took aim at President Donald Trump and Elon Musk during an interview with The New York Times, saying funding cuts to USAID will cause childhood deaths to increase. “On childhood deaths, which over the next few years should have gone from five million to four million — now, unless there’s a big reversal, we’ll probably go from five million to six million,” Gates said.
“The world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children,” Gates told me, exhibiting a rare burst of real anger about the cuts to U.S.A.I.D. “He put it in the wood chipper, because he didn’t go to a party that weekend.”Those cuts, he says, were much larger than he anticipated:
I thought there’d be, like, a 20 percent cut. Instead, right now, it’s like an 80 percent cut. And yes, I did not expect that. I don’t think anybody expected that. Nobody predicted that the executive branch would cut funds for AIDS prevention programs without the help of Congress. What’s going on with H.I.V. research and trial networks, I didn’t expect that either.
He has to show he is serious about defense spending before he flies to see Trump. He’s in some meetings saying, OK, how do I increase defense spending from 2.1 percent to 2.3 percent? And somebody says, We could cut the aid budget from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent. Is anyone talking about kids who won’t get vaccine?
The Gates Foundation: Giving away all you have to A.I.D. to save the World’s poorest children in the next 20 years
Throughout our conversation, he returned again and again to the promises of A.I. — not just in the area of drug discovery, but as part of a better delivery mechanism, to make sure that those in need can actually access the world’s most powerful tools.
In The Wall Street Journal this year, Gates said that he was impressed with the interest Trump showed in what Gates had brought up. Months later, Trump and government efficiency czar Musk tore into federal funding — a move that “rattled” the Gates Foundation, as reported by the Times.
“The reductions to U.S.A.I.D. are stunning,” Gates said during this latest interview. “I thought there’d be, like, a 20 percent cut. Instead, right now, it is an 80 percent cut. I did not think that would happen. I don’t think anybody expected that.”
Gates responds that it was an unusual aspect of Musk’s commitment to the Giving Pledge. [the Giving Pledge] that you can wait until you die and still fulfill it.” He adds, “So who knows? He could go on to be a great philanthropist. In the meantime, the world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.”
Now Gates says he plans to give away all his wealth through his foundation over the next 20 years “to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world.” The Gates Foundation will officially close on December 31st, 2045, when Gates’ net worth will have dropped by 99 percent.