Bill Gates: Reiterating Call for African-led Solutions to Drive Health, Equity and Economic Impact

Bill Gates: Reiterating Call for African-led Solutions to Drive Health, Equity and Economic Impact

 

 

In what was his first visit to Nigeria after he announced plans to give away $200 billion to end preventable deaths of mothers and children, eradicate deadly infectious diseases, and lift millions of people out of poverty, Bill Gates, Chair of Gates Foundation, last month, reiterated his call for innovative African-led solutions to drive health, equity and economic impact in Nigeria and Africa. Speaking to ThisDay and a select crop of reporters, the Gates Chair, in a recent media roundtable which took place ahead of the first ever Lagos edition of the Goalkeepers event, harped on the transformative power of AI and innovation to tackle health and economic inequalities in Nigeria and across Africa. Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that he also tackled questions on innovation, global hunger, health access and equity, partnerships, Primary Healthcare, vaccine coverage and the distrust around it, maternal deaths, and most importantly, why the 200 million dollars he pledged to donate for the next decade will have a large portion of that focused on the African continent

What really drove me was the data I encountered. The statistics were alarming. For example, attendance at primary care was barely 10 per cent. Access to both primary and secondary care was just around 25 per cent, far below the expected 90 per cent. Immunisation coverage was at 14 per cent and in some areas, as low as 3.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of out-of-school children was around 580,000.

 

When I looked at those figures, it became clear that I needed to prioritise both health and education. I knew we had to reach people in underserved areas. That’s what led me to commit to upgrading the primary healthcare system.

Initially, I set a target to commission one primary healthcare centre per week. We managed to scale that up — we now commission two centres per week. We’ve rehabilitated close to 150 centres, and we’re still expanding. This was a deliberate decision because I knew that without access, we wouldn’t achieve meaningful results.

The outcome has been promising. Today, immunisation coverage has increased to about 50 per cent and access to primary care is now between 40 per cent and 45 per cent. We’ve also improved maternal and child health outcomes. Mortality has declined, absenteeism among health workers has reduced, and we’ve motivated staff better. But of course, challenges remain — and we’ll get to those shortly.