“I don’t expect most governments to suddenly restore foreign aid to historic levels, but I am an optimist, and I believe governments can and will do what’s needed to save as many children as possible,” said Gates Foundation Chairman Bill Gates.
THE WELFARE OF children, particularly in poor countries, can be badly affected by donor nations reducing their aid for health care, which can reverse global gains versus child mortality.
This was the stark message during the recent 2025 Goalkeepers event, where Gates Foundation Chairman Bill Gates sounded the alarm over the fate of millions of children globally who still face health challenges from the world’s deadliest diseases.
“Humanity is at a crossroads. With millions of children’s lives on the line, global leaders have a once-in-a-generation chance to do something extraordinary,” said Gates. “The choices they make now—whether to go forward with proposed steep cuts to health aid or to give the world’s children the chance they deserve to live a healthy life—will determine what kind of future we leave the next generation.”
This year, donor countries are dealing with domestic challenges, high debt levels, and aging populations, which hampers their funding for global development assistance for health (DAH). According to a recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), global DAH fell by 21 percent between 2024 and 2025, and is now at a 15-year low.
ONE OF HUMANITY’S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS
With key global health funding decisions expected before the end of the year, total funding levels could rise. However, if the current cuts hold, they threaten decades of progress that saw child mortality cut in half since 2000—from 10 million children to less than 5 million children a year—one of humanity’s greatest achievements.
During the annual event, which this year focused on reigniting a shared commitment to saving children’s lives, Gates announced his foundation’s pledge of $912 million over three years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s 2026-2028 replenishment. The Global Fund is one of the most effective lifesaving initiatives of the 21st century. Its fundraising replenishment cycle ends this November, underscoring the urgency for governments to make pivotal decisions in the coming weeks and months for the lives of millions of people.
“What’s happening to the health of the world’s children is worse than most people realize, but our long-term prospects are better than most people can imagine,” said Gates. “I don’t expect most governments to suddenly restore foreign aid to historic levels, but I am an optimist, and I believe governments can and will do what’s needed to save as many children as possible,” said Gates.
DOING MORE WITH LESS
With shrinking global health budgets as the backdrop, the Goalkeepers event highlighted the people, science and innovations, and policies that are accelerating solutions for how leaders can do more with less.
“We have a roadmap for saving millions of children and making some of the deadliest childhood diseases history by 2045,” Gates asserted. “I’m urging world leaders to invest in the health of all people, especially children, to deliver this future.”
Results from work by the Gates Foundation and the IHME indicate that sustaining global investments in child health and scaling lifesaving innovations could cut child deaths in half again over the next 20 years.
The 2025 Goalkeepers event had an audience of more than 1,000 global government, community, philanthropy, and private-sector leaders where the participants issued a stark but hopeful call to world leaders: save millions of children’s lives and make some of the deadliest diseases history by 2045.
Goalkeepers is the Gates Foundation’s campaign to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. Gates Foundation hopes to inspire a new generation of leaders—Goalkeepers who raise awareness of progress, hold their leaders accountable, and drive action to achieve the SDGs.
