The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, has disclosed the organization's plans to commit US$8.3 billion this year to its ongoing initiatives to combat global poverty, disease, and inequality.
Suzman gave examples of how the foundation uses its tools, platform, and convening capacity to raise awareness of and promote solutions for problems that could otherwise go unreported in the foundation's annual letter.
The foundation has allotted the largest budget in its history to address the several concerns that have emerged in response to the COVID-19 epidemic and that now pose a threat to slow or reverse global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
A wide range of catastrophes, such as war, economic instability, climatic disasters, and a rapid decline in vaccination rates for preventable infectious diseases, has cost the world's poor a disproportionately high price.
According to the CEO, the foundation is currently on track to honour its promise to reach an annual distribution of US$9 billion by 2026, an increase of 15% over the planned payout for that year.
“This is the toughest period for global health and development in recent memory, but in some ways, it’s also the reason we exist,” Suzman said. “To help meet the great needs ahead, we are doubling down on our commitment to our core mission: ensuring everyone can live a healthy and productive life.
“People in low and middle-income countries, particularly women and girls, are facing the severe consequences of intersecting global crises, yet the world has so far failed to step up with the necessary political will and resources to respond.”
Suzman addressed concerns about the foundation’s reach and access to world leaders in his yearly letter. He discussed how the foundation catalyses and pushes for solutions, brings different perspectives to decision-making tables, and fills market gaps, using the foundation’s work on climate adaptation, malaria, and U.S. education as examples.
He also spoke on the foundation’s influence in determining international health and development policy. Suzman added, “The foundation doesn’t determine the world’s agenda—we respond to it,” about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.