Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has called on global leaders to make bold choices that could save millions of children’s lives and consign some of the world’s deadliest diseases to history by 2045.
Speaking before an audience of more than 1,000 policymakers, philanthropists, private sector leaders, and community advocates at the 2025 Goalkeepers event, Gates warned that the world was “at a crossroads” as health aid faces historic cuts.
“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,” Gates said. “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.”
According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), global development assistance for health fell by 21 percent between 2024 and 2025, sinking to its lowest point in 15 years. The cuts threaten decades of progress that saw child mortality halved since 2000.
To counter the decline, Gates announced a $912 million pledge by the Gates Foundation to the Global Fund’s 2026–2028 replenishment drive. Since its inception in 2002, the Global Fund has saved more than 70 million lives, cut deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria by over 60 percent, and strengthened global health security.
Gates laid out a roadmap which, if followed, could halve child deaths again over the next 20 years. The plan includes renewed investments in proven initiatives like the Global Fund and Gavi, prioritization of primary healthcare, and investment in breakthrough innovations.
Some of the innovations highlighted include single-dose malaria treatments, long-acting HIV drugs, maternal vaccines against respiratory illnesses, and the use of artificial intelligence to deliver medicines more effectively and cheaply.
“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,” Gates said.
The Goalkeepers event also celebrated global leaders and advocates making strides in child survival and health equity. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez received the 2025 Global Goalkeeper Award for expanding Spain’s support for the Global Fund and Gavi, while several “Goalkeepers Champions” from around the world were recognized, including Nigerian actress Osas Ighodaro for her malaria advocacy.
The event, co-hosted by musician Jon Batiste and actress Olivia Wilde, carried the theme “We Can’t Stop at Almost”, underscoring the urgency of finishing the work on preventable child deaths.
Looking Ahead
Later this year, Goalkeepers will expand to the Middle East for the first time, with a major convening set for December 8 in Abu Dhabi. The Gates Foundation will also release its 2025 Goalkeepers Report, focused on how leaders’ decisions in the coming months will shape the future of global child health.
Earlier in the year, Gates announced plans to give away virtually all of his wealth, pledging $200 billion over the next two decades to advance progress in maternal and child health, eradicate deadly infectious diseases, and lift millions out of poverty.
