Gates Calls on World Leaders to Increase Resources and Leadership to Improve Children’s Health Globally

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Jacquelline Fuller
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Phone: 206.709.3400
Email: [email protected]

NEW YORK — In a keynote speech today at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Children, Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called for a dramatic increase in leadership and resources from developed countries to improve the health of children worldwide. Gates urged the 80 world leaders in attendance to raise the visibility of global health inequity, prove that global health investments work and increase political leadership. 

“There is no greater issue on earth than the health of our children. We have never been in a better position to make dramatic improvements in global health,” Gates said in prepared remarks, citing three unique opportunities:  

  • The opportunity to learn from our successes, including the eradication of small pox;
  • The opportunity to take advantage of new and promising collaborations such as The Vaccine Fund and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and;
  • The opportunity to take advantage of increased attention on global health such as the recent UNGASS on HIV/AIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Gates, whose foundation has made increasing global health equity its top priority, stressed the importance of raising awareness about the low-cost, high-impact health interventions that exist today. “If people knew that the measles vaccine costs only a quarter; if they knew we could prevent child malaria deaths with a bed net that costs just four dollars; if they knew we could prevent a child’s death from diarrhea for 33 cents, more people would provide the resources needed to solve these problems.”

Prior to his address, Gates participated in an announcement for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a public-private partnership created to address the devastating health problems caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $50 million commitment over five years to support the alliance. 

During the press conference, Gates underscored the importance of public-private sector cooperation in addressing global health issues. GAIN’s partners include bilateral donors, foundations, UN and other multilateral agencies, developing country governments, private sector companies, NGOs and academic institutions. Funds available for the first year of GAIN activities will be between $20-25 million.

The Special Session on Children, which runs May 8-10, is a meeting of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the children and adolescents of the world. It brings together government leaders and heads of state, NGOs, children’s advocates and young people themselves at the United Nations in New York in 2002. The gathering is intended to create an opportunity to change the way the world views and treats children.