This is the humanitarian cause Bill Gates will donate the majority of his $200 billion fortune to: “it’s an exciting thing to be part of”

Last month, Bill Gates announced that he will be giving away 99% of his fortune within the next 20 years, which he expects to be around $200 billion by that time. The now 69-year-old co-founder of Microsoft will then wind down operations of his Gates Foundation in 2045.

He told the BBC his motivation is “really about the urgency. We can spend a lot more if we’re not trying to be perpetual, and I know that the spending will be in line with my values.” Addressing the African Union in the Nelson Mandela Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia he said the majority of his spending will focus on projects in Africa.

The tech billionaire’s Gates Foundation has been working alongside African partners over the past two decades to develop vaccines and strengthen systems. These efforts thought Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have helped catalyze over 100 innovations and save more than 80 million lives.

“Every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity”

“I recently made a commitment that my wealth will be given away over the next 20 years,” Gates said in a statement from the Gates Foundation. “The majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa.”

That money will be used to partner with governments that prioritize the health and wellbeing of their people. “By unleashing human potential through health and education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity,” Gates said. “And that path is an exciting thing to be part of.”

Bill Gates praises young African innovators embracing artificial intelligence

Part of unleashing this potential he noted will be the use of artificial intelligence to improve things like healthcare systems noted Gates. He had words of praise for Africa’s young innovators embracing AI, “and thinking about how it applies to the problems that they want to solve.”

He referenced how innovators in Africa used mobile phones to revolutionize the banking system. “Now you have a chance, as you build your next generation healthcare systems, to think about how AI is built into that,” he said.

He gave the example of Rwanda where AI is being used to improve delivery services giving the example of “AI-enabled ultrasound, to identify high-risk pregnancies earlier, helping women receive timely, potentially life-saving care.”

Philanthropy should help where the government and private sector cannot

When asked in an interview with the BBC about unemployment in Africa and if he has been thinking about solutions for the worrying trend the tech billionaire responded: “Only the things that you can’t solve with government and private sector is where you bring philanthropy in.”

Gates went on to explain that this can be done by tackling issues like creating an HIV vaccine and developing new seeds for agriculture, for which there isn’t a market, is where philanthropy can help.

“There will be the demand for jobs if the people get the right health and the right education. Then you’ll have, you know, the capacity that serves the market,” he said.

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