Bill Gates is pressing the Trump administration to continue supporting international health initiatives such as vaccination campaigns for children and HIV treatments.
In addition to being the owner and co-founder of Microsoft, the billionaire is also a representative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he shares with his ex-wife. The foundation has been supporting philanthropic activities in 130 countries since 2000, with an annual budget of $8 billion. Gates traveled to Washington to meet with members of the National Security Council after Donald Trump signed executive orders to cut government spending.
Since Jan. 20, the U.S. president has pulled out of the World Health Organization and cut the staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by 80 percent, while also freezing billions of dollars in funding.
Gates has warned members of Congress that federal funding is critical to pursue certain health initiatives and that his foundation will not be able to replace the U.S. government. So if these actions stand, Gates’ philanthropic body will be forced to choose where to intervene in the future.
Among the programs most at risk are the GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. According to inside sources, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly considering which cuts to make from a list of thirty international health projects, and these are at the top. The United States provides about $300 million annually to GAVI and more than $1 billion to the Global Fund.
