Bill Gates Lobbies Trump Administration To Maintain Global Health Funding

Reuters (3/18, Rigby, Landay) reports that Bill Gates is lobbying the Trump Administration to continue “funding health programs worldwide, from childhood vaccination to HIV treatment, and warning that his foundation cannot step in to fill gaps.” A Gates Foundation spokeswoman said Gates had met with the National Security Council and lawmakers in recent weeks to emphasize the “life-saving impact of U.S. international assistance and the need for a strategic plan to protect the world’s most vulnerable while safeguarding America’s health and security.” The Administration is reviewing foreign aid under its “America First” policy, “with a list of around 30 global health projects for consideration.” Gates’ discussions “focused on organizations such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, among others.” He also “pushed for the U.S. to continue to support the World Health Organization” and polio eradication efforts.