
Bucking Trends, Gates Foundation Sets Up Fund To Help Africa’s Babies
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India-West News Desk
SEATTLE, WA – Bucking global trends of retreating foreign aid and lifting the pall of gloom over international health funding, the Gates Foundation is joining forces with global partners to launch a nearly $500 million initiative aimed at saving the lives of mothers and newborns in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Beginnings Fund, announced on April 29 in Abu Dhabi, represents a rare and bold commitment in a time when many wealthy nations — led by U.S. cuts initiated under the Trump administration — are pulling back from humanitarian aid. The project is backed by a coalition of philanthropies, including the Gates Foundation and the UAE’s Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity.
“This fund has taken shape over at least a year, but its importance has only grown as donor governments step back,” said the fund’s chief executive, Alice Kang’ethe, in an interview with Reuters. “We’re not coming in with foreign solutions. We’re working alongside African governments, experts, and communities to strengthen care where it’s needed most.”
The fund’s goal is ambitious: to save 300,000 mothers and newborns by 2030 and to improve access to quality maternal care for 34 million women and infants. In addition to the core fund, partners have committed another $100 million in direct investments to support maternal and child health initiatives across the continent.