American Billionaire, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is to invest $5 billion in Africa over the next five years. He disclosed this while delivering the 14th annual Nelson Mandela Foundation lecture, at the University of Pretoria, on Sunday, Gates said over the last 15 years, his foundation had invested more than $9 billion in Africa.
“We’ve put a lot of this money into discovering and developing new and better vaccines and drugs to help prevent and treat the diseases of poverty. “We’ve also invested in global partnerships that work closely with countries across the continent to get these solutions to the people who need them most,” Gates said.
This year’s theme was “Living Together” with a special focus on those who gave their lives during the Struggle for liberation.
“The youth must be given an opportunity to thrive. We must clear away the obstacles that keep young people from growing,” he said. Gates, who will also speak at the International HIV/Aids conference in Durban, said one of these obstacles was inadequate healthcare.
More needed to be done to combat HIV, such as oral anti-HIV medication, or pills taken only once a month or even a vaccine. “If we don’t continue our fight against HIV/Aids the hard-earned gains in Africa will be reversed.”
Gates warned that if the world doesn’t come up with more creative ways to make HIV treatment and prevention accessible, “the hard-earned gains made against HIV in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 15 years could actually be reversed” as high birth rates continue.
He said Africa is the world’s youngest continent in terms of demographics. “By 2050, 40 percent of the world’s children will live on this continent,” he said.
Still, he said Africa had made notable progress in fighting Aids, saying that the last time South Africa hosted the global conference 16 years ago, only a few thousand Africans were on HIV drugs. At the time, the drugs were too expensive for many in the region hardest hit by the epidemic.
South Africa now says half of its infected population of 6.8 million people is on treatment. Gates noted that Mandela fought stigma by announcing publicly the death of his son from Aids in 2005.
Another point he emphasized was good quality education.”South Africa is blessed to have some of the best universities in Africa, like the one we are in now.”
When a child’s body and brain were healthy, the next step was education, he said. “A good education is the best lever we have to give young people what they need to make the best of their lives.”
He praised the high quality of South Africa’a higher education facilities and said through education Africa’s youth would have economic opportunities. “Healthy and educated young people are eager to make their way in the world.”
Gates also touched on energy shortages on the continent and their impact on the economy as well as the need for agricultural growth.
Despite the various challenges Africa faced, he said, he believed Africa had what it took to have the future it wanted. “Our duty is to invest in the young people and our duty is to do it now. There is so much work that still needs to be done for us all to be able to live together.”
In the only sharp words of his address, he said: “I get angry when I see that Africa is suffering the worst effects of climate change, although Africans had almost nothing to do with causing it.”
