Wars, Pandemic Darken The News In Gates Foundation Annual Report

GeekWire: Gates Foundation Annual Report Shows Stalled Progress Due To Pandemic, Wars — But Also Reasons For Hope 
You know times are tough when a typically upbeat missive from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation starts sounding grim. Its sixth annual Goalkeepers Report is an opportunity for the foundation to take stock of efforts to reach six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals — and things aren’t going well. “As bad as the data makes it seem, the real situation might be even worse,” reads the introduction from Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates, who co-chair the multi-billion dollar foundation. (Stiffler, 9/12)

Quartz: Bill Gates Says Rich Countries Are Tackling Hunger In Africa All Wrong
After the Ukraine war scrambled trade networks for wheat and other key food commodities, the US and some other rich countries stepped up their food aid donations to countries in Africa and elsewhere hit hardest by skyrocketing prices. That should be a good news story. But to Bill Gates, it’s the latest example of how backward the approach to tackling global hunger has become. The problem, Gates said in an interview with Quartz, is that food aid is accelerating in response to war, economic turmoil, and climate change—but investment in agricultural research in low-income countries is far lower, and stagnating. (McDonnell, 9/13)

AP: Bill Gates: Technological Innovation Would Help Solve Hunger
Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What’s also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released Tuesday by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates points, in particular, to a breakthrough he calls “magic seeds,” crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map that models how climate change will likely affect growing conditions for crops in various countries to highlight the urgent need for action. (Beaty, 9/13)

The Guardian: ‘The Strain Is The Worst Of My Lifetime’: How Bill Gates Is Staying Optimistic
As the UN general assembly prepares to meet in New York next week, the report makes clear that most of the 17 sustainable development goals agreed by member countries in 2015, a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet”, will miss their 2030 deadline. “When we set the goals, we definitely did not expect something like the pandemic,” said Gates. “If we keep funding development aid properly we’ll get back where we were before the pandemic within a couple of years and build from there. But at best you can say it was a three- or four-year setback. In some areas, even worse. (McVeigh, 9/13)

Also —

Bloomberg: Melinda French Gates Remains Committed To Foundation After Split 
Melinda French Gates said she’s “completely committed” to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and to working with her ex-husband a year after the pair’s divorce threw into question her role at the $70 billion philanthropic behemoth. “We met for the first time with our board of trustees last week in person,” French Gates said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang. “What I think they would all tell you is that Bill and Melinda remain completely committed to this institution and to working effectively together. And that’s what we’re doing today.” (Alexander and Chang, 9/13)

CIDRAP: Programs To Fight HIV, TB, And Malaria Partially Recover From COVID Punch
Programs to fight HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria in 2021 rebounded from a 2020 drop in key efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Fund said today in its latest annual assessment. It said in 2020 that the pandemic had a devastating impact on the fight against the three diseases, which led to the first decline in results in the Global Fund's 20-year history. (9/12)