Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be in Nairobi, Kenya, to visit national and local leaders, partners, and grantees; meet with regional scientists and innovators; and announce the foundation’s forward-looking commitment to support new innovations and ingenuity aimed at improving health, food security, and gender equality in African countries.
Gates and other foundation leaders will visit and learn from farmers who are using digital tools to help with climate adaptation, see how primary health care clinics have delivered care during the pandemic and helped address ongoing threats like HIV, TB, and malaria, and learn more about how leaders are charting a path forward, despite the challenging economic conditions, with investments in youth, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Gates will also participate in a conversation with university students, to learn and share perspectives on how innovative tools and approaches can bolster efforts to increase food security and support climate adaptation across Africa. The moderated town hall event, Innovating for Food Security & Climate Change in Africa, will be co-hosted by Africa.com and the University of Nairobi and take place from 6:00-7:00PM EAT (Nairobi) on Thursday, November 17. You can register here to virtually attend.
BACKGROUND:
- The foundation believes that solutions to Africa’s greatest challenges can come from within Africa. Our role is to support African partners whose bold ideas and creative approaches have the potential to save lives, improve health, and help families across the continent.
- Since the foundation’s inception in 2000, it has supported partnerships with African regional institutions, national governments, and local communities in 49 African countries to contribute funding and scientific expertise in support of their agendas for change. These partnerships have driven the success of numerous health, agriculture, equality, and anti-poverty initiatives.
- In Kenya, the foundation supports tools and technologies in agriculture, health, immunization, nutrition, sanitation, financial services, gender equality and more. Partners in Kenya include Maisha Meds, which uses technology to improve patient access to quality and affordable care, Kidogo, which offers childcare for Nairobi’s low-income families, and KALRO, which helps farmers with climate adaptation.
- More information about the foundation’s work in Africa is available at https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/places/africa.