By Evelyne Musambi, NAIROBI
Kenya
Bill Gates, on a visit to
Kenya, has announced his foundation will spend $7 billion to improve health,
gender equality and farming in Africa.
The new pledge will be spent
over the next four years and is in addition to existing Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation funding to strengthen health systems across the continent.
“Africa’s young people have
the talent and opportunity to accelerate progress and help solve the world’s
most pressing problems,” Gates said.
The new funding comes as countries
in East Africa and the Horn of Africa face the worst drought in decades.
“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,” Gates Foundation CEO
Mark Suzman said.
On his visit to Kenya, Gates
has been visiting primary healthcare centers, leading medical and agricultural
research institutes, and smallholder farms.
During the visits he learned
from partners about “what programs and approaches are making an impact, what
obstacles remain, and how the foundation can better support future progress,”
the foundation said in a statement.
“The foundation will continue
to invest in the researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and healthcare workers
who are working to unlock the tremendous human potential that exists across the
continent,” he said.
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