Gates Report Stresses Need for Philanthropy Amid Aid Cuts
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation issued a report card today meant to underscore deep worries that the world is in danger of backsliding on a broad range of international-development objectives.
The report by the nation’s largest grant maker, which has already directed billions of dollars to global development and has more than $40 billion at the ready, is meant to guide international efforts to achieve the United Nations sustainable-development goals, a set of 17 targets to improve health, the economy, the environment, and human rights worldwide by 2030. It charts poverty, infant mortality, maternal mortality, HIV rates, and 14 other health and economic measurements related to the goals.
The report, and two events the Gateses will host next week in New York alongside the United Nations General Assembly meeting, are meant to showcase the importance of international aid in an era of retrenchment by the U.S. government and to inspire people worldwide to get involved, Mr. Gates told reporters on a conference call previewing the report. . .