The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation inked a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s foreign and health ministries to expand their partnerships revolving around public health.
Bill Gates at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug. 16, 2022/Young-Ho Lee/Eyepress/Pool via Getty Images
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has inked a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s foreign and health ministries to expand their public health partnerships.
The South Korean government has pledged stronger support for Gates Foundation-backed projects, including the Global Fund, which focuses on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as non-profit organizations CEPI and GAVI, which help distribute COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries.
Speaking in Seoul, South Korea, Bill Gates called for stronger international cooperation. This included programs for vaccines against coronaviruses in general. He also praised South Korea’s agreement to donate $200 million to COVAX, the distribution program associated with CEP, GAVI and the World Health Organization.
“There’s a lot we need to do together - we need to reach deep, we need to build more partnership, we need to encourage the scientists,” Gates said in a speech at the National Assembly. “But I am confident that with these steps we can continue to radically improve global health, to cut the number of children dying in half again, to eradicate diseases like polio, measles and malaria and improve the lives of all humans.”
In mid-July, the Gates Foundation announced plans to increase the amount of money it itends to give away. It is increasing its annual payout by a whopping 50% over pre-pandemic levels to $9 billion annually by 2026. This is partially the result of contributions from Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffet.
The Foundation indicated the decision to increase spending was related to “compounding global crises, including an ongoing pandemic that has stalled or reversed two decades of stunning progress toward ending preventable disease, improving education, achieving gender equality and reducing poverty around the world.”
The same day, Bill Gates announced a $20 billion gift to the endowment, which exceeded his and Melinda French Gates’ joint commitment of $15 billion in the summer of 2021 and builds on Warren Buffett’s $3.1 billion annual gift in June 2022. The foundation’s endowment is now about $70 billion.
“Philanthropy has a unique role to play in helping people around the world recover from the pandemic and rebuild the underlying systems that left so many so vulnerable to begin with,” Melinda French Gates, Foundation co-chair, said. “The foundation has spent more than two decades forging relationships with a broad range of partners with the vision and expertise to accelerate the pace of progress for everyone. This additional spending will support our partners’ important work to promote a fair and inclusive recovery and a healthier, more equal future.”
The Foundation indicated the additional resources would allow it to increase its investments in its existing strategies, which include global health and development, gender equality and education, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, in addition to its work in U.S. education and economic mobility.
While in South Korea, Bill Gates met with leaders of the country’s business group, SK, to talk about cooperating on health-related projects. The organization’s pharmaceutical arm, SK Bioscience, manufactures COVID-19 vaccines. The Gates Foundation has donated funds to the company to develop nasal sprays to prevent coronavirus infections.
In May, the Foundation committed $125 million to help end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to prepare for future pandemics. The Foundation had already committed more than $2 billion to global COVID-19 response since the beginning of the pandemic. The new funding is designed to strengthen health systems in low-income countries, “enhancing integrated disease monitoring, expanding access to pandemic tools, and helping countries manage COVID-19 alongside other pressing health needs.”
Melinda French Gates said at the time, “The world was not ready for this pandemic, but we know how to prevent the next one. Every sector has a role to play in achieving global health security, and the foundation is calling on countries and other funders to make the investments needed to create a safer, more equitable world.”
The Biden Administration has adopted an “Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas” as of June 2022. This helps the U.S. and its partners prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics and other public health emergencies. It is also working on expanding the equitable delivery of public health services and healthcare to “remote, vulnerable and marginalized populations.”
This involves reinforcing long-standing U.S. Government health investments, including the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), establishing vaccination sites and working to battle misinformation and disinformation regarding vaccines. Its Saving Lives Now program focuses on the Latin American and Caribbean region and its COVID-19 efforts.
