- By Shivangi Sharma
- Thu, 08 May 2025 09:18 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on Thursday condemned Musk’s recent role in halting US foreign aid through the controversial shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a move that Gates argued has had devastating consequences in some of the world’s poorest regions.
Gates cited the closure of a hospital in Gaza Province, Mozambique, that had successfully prevented women from transmitting HIV to their babies. According to Gates, Musk’s cost-cutting initiative, known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wrongly identified the funding as supporting contraception in Gaza in the Middle East—an error Musk later acknowledged.
Gates also unveiled plans to donate USD 200 billion through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and shut it down by 2045. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Gates explained the decision was driven by a desire to "give as much as we can to make progress" while offering partners enough time to prepare for the end of funding.
“This is a change from our original plans,” Gates said, referring to the foundation’s original charter that called for its closure decades after his and ex-wife Melinda French Gates' deaths. “With input from our board, I now believe we can achieve the foundation’s goals on a shorter timeline,” he added in a post on his Gates Notes blog.
'Killing the World’s Poorest Children'
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times. He accused Musk of “acting through ignorance” and called on him to personally witness the human toll of his decision. “I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money,” Gates said.
Gates also claimed that Musk’s abrupt closure of USAID had far-reaching consequences, including “life-saving food and medicines expiring in warehouses” due to the lack of distribution infrastructure.
Final Push For Global Health
Gates emphasised his broader mission to fund critical health initiatives, particularly in low-income countries. “It’s kind of thrilling to have that much to be able to put into these causes,” he told the Associated Press. With USD 200 billion earmarked for the next two decades, the Gates Foundation’s final chapter aims to tackle challenges in global health, education, and poverty before it permanently closes in 2045.