Now Reading: Bill Gates Sounds Alarm on Child Deaths in Northern Nigeria
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Bill Gates Sounds Alarm on Child Deaths in Northern Nigeria
Philanthropist Bill Gates has raised fresh concerns about child mortality in northern Nigeria, warning that one in every seven children born in the region still dies before reaching the age of five. Gates sounded the alarm on Monday during a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York, urging governments to reverse the steep cuts in global health funding that threaten to roll back decades of progress in child survival.
The Microsoft co-founder explained that despite significant global gains since 2000, which saw child mortality cut in half and an estimated five million young lives saved annually, the world now faces a turning point. He cautioned that without renewed investment in health programs, millions of children, particularly in low-income regions such as northern Nigeria, could lose their lives to preventable diseases.
Gates, who is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced that his foundation would contribute $912 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The donation is one of the largest made by a private organization this year and is aimed at closing the widening funding gap created by cuts from some of the world’s richest governments.
A Warning on Global Health Cuts
According to Gates, global development assistance has dropped to its lowest level in 15 years, with the United States leading in funding cuts. A report from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation confirmed that development assistance fell by 21 percent between 2024 and 2025.
Gates stressed that while his foundation can make significant contributions, it cannot replace the scale of government funding. “You can either be part of improving that or act like that doesn’t matter,” he said, emphasizing that sustained support from public and private sectors is crucial to preserving the progress made in reducing child deaths since the turn of the century.
The philanthropist further explained that there was still an opportunity to save millions of lives if global commitments are restored and key innovations rolled out rapidly. He highlighted primary healthcare investment, expanded vaccine coverage, and wider access to new treatments such as the long-acting HIV prevention drug lenacapavir as steps that could prevent backsliding on global health goals.
Hope Amid Crisis
Despite the alarming statistics, Gates insisted that the situation is not hopeless. He argued that the tools, technologies, and experience needed to drive child mortality even lower already exist. What is required, he said, is the political will and financial commitment to deploy them where they are needed most.
“What’s happening to the health of the world’s children is worse than most people realise, but our long-term prospects are better than most people can imagine,” Gates said in a statement released alongside the foundation’s announcement.
The Gates Foundation has made ending preventable maternal and child deaths one of its core priorities since its inception in 2000. Beyond global health, the foundation also supports education, agricultural development, and poverty reduction initiatives worldwide. Earlier this year, Gates pledged to donate nearly his entire $200 billion fortune by 2045, accelerating his timeline because of what he described as the urgency of current global challenges.
There are also bright spots on the funding landscape. Spain, for instance, increased its contributions to the Global Fund by 12 percent this year and boosted support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, by 30 percent – a move Gates praised as an example of sustained commitment in difficult economic times.
Public health experts say the warning should be a wake-up call for African governments as well, urging them to prioritize domestic funding for healthcare and not rely solely on international aid. Strengthening local health systems, experts argue, is key to addressing persistent inequalities in child survival rates between northern and southern Nigeria.
With global leaders set to meet for the annual Goalkeepers event this week, Gates expressed optimism that renewed commitments could help protect vulnerable children from preventable deaths. If funding is restored, he said, the world could not only maintain the gains made over the last 25 years but also eradicate some of the deadliest childhood diseases entirely by mid-century.
