Gates Foundation among partners in $655m health effort targeting mothers, newborns in sub-Saharan Africa
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The Beginnings Fund aims to save the lives of 300,000 mothers and newborn babies by 2030.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – A group of philanthropies, including the Gates Foundation, has set up a fund backed with nearly US$500 million (S$655 million) to help save the lives of newborn babies and mothers in sub-Saharan Africa, standing out against a bleak global health funding landscape.
The Beginnings Fund was launched on April 29 in Abu Dhabi, home of another key backer – the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) recently established Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity.
The project has been in the works for at least a year. But its role has become more important as governments worldwide follow the United States in pulling back from international aid
“It is an opportune moment,” she said earlier in April, stressing that the fund aims to work alongside African governments, experts and organisations rather than parachuting in experts or technologies. This approach, she noted, differs from many traditional donor programmes.
Said Ms Tala Al Ramahi at the Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation: “Two generations ago… women in the UAE used to die during childbirth. More than half of the children did not survive past childhood.”
She added that the lessons learnt in what worked to change those outcomes would help inform the effort.
The Beginnings Fund aims to save the lives of 300,000 mothers and newborn babies by 2030, and expand quality care for 34 million mothers and babies.
The partners also pledged US$100 million in direct investments in maternal and child health, separate from the fund.
It plans to operate in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, focusing on low-cost interventions and personnel in high-burden hospitals.
The work will track and target the key reasons babies and mothers die, including infection, severe bleeding for mothers and respiratory distress for infants.
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has donated roughly US$100 billion to charitable causes through his and his ex-wife’s foundation.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The world has made major progress in reducing newborn and maternal deaths, halving the neonatal mortality rate between 1990 and 2022. But that progress has stagnated or even reversed in nearly all regions in the last few years, according to the World Health Organisation, which has warned that aid cuts could make this worse.
“Mothers and newborns should not be dying from causes we know how to prevent,” said Dr Mekdes Daba, Minister of Health for Ethiopia, stressing that the majority of deaths are avoidable.
Ms Kang’ethe said the Beginnings Fund, like other philanthropies, is getting calls to fill gaps in global aid funding, but remains focused on its long-term aim of changing the trajectory of mother and newborn survival.
The fund is also backed by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Delta Philanthropies and Elma Foundation, among others. It will be led from Nairobi, Kenya. REUTERS
