The issue of health has reached every home, people need immediate responses in the area of public health from their governments. The WHO presents its arguments for investment in health every year and both countries and private foundations invest in large programs.
But, in what proportion do they invest?
Let’s deepen with the reading of this article the investment in health made specifically by the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And let’s discuss why this is important.
The WHO and its financing in health
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the UN body in charge of managing prevention, promotion and intervention policies at the global health level. It has 195 member states that govern the entity.
This body is financed by its member states, with the United States and the United Kingdom being the main investors, as well as countries such as Germany, Japan, Norway, China, Canada, Sweden, Australia, France, among many others. However, it also depends on private donors such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Below I would like to share with you a table of the main investors:
Top 20 contributors to WHO for the 2018/2019 biennium
The role of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in health
The Gates Foundation has played an integral and defining role in world health since 2000 when the Gates Foundation began its interest in health by contributing $750 million to GAVI during its first five years. GAVI is a foundation that brings together key UN agencies, vaccine manufacturers, aid agencies and major foundations to vaccinate children in poor countries.
In 2002 the Gates Foundation donated $100 million to the Global Fund to fight life-threatening diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
In 2003 the foundation launched Grand Challenges in Global Health to fund research that promises a breakthrough in work against diseases that disproportionately affect people in low-income countries. Thus, it awards 44 grants for a total of more than $450 million for research projects.
In 2007, the Gates Foundation partners with Rotary International, announcing its first major polio eradication grant and becoming a lead partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a $100 million challenge to Rotary. with the promise of matching the funds raised.
In 2015, the United Nations, the World Bank Group, and country governments and donors launch the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in support of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health. Stakeholders announce $12 billion in funding to support investment plans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania over five years, with the Gate Foundation participating with $75 million.
In December 2020, the foundation commits $1.75 billion to accelerate the development and equitable distribution of tests, treatments, and vaccines for COVID-19 .
The problem of private donor involvement in public health
With the changes that the appearance of COVID-19 has produced in everyone’s lives, we question the ways of managing and financing the organizations that control public health in the world.
At first glance, there is nothing wrong with private and non-profit organizations donating their money to health programs, since philanthropy is seen in our society as something positive.
But when a single foundation is capable of donating more than several countries together can, as is the case with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, then it is necessary to sound the alarms and question even more: who makes the decisions within the WHO? What would happen if one of its main donors withdraws? In whose hands is world health?
Private donors often donate money to causes or programs that they identify with or have an interest in. In this way, most of the donations made by the Gates are related to their own programs. The point is that this also changes WHO’s health priorities, either directly or indirectly, throwing global health priorities out of balance.
This situation has sparked debate on public health and its form of financing, since money is also decision-making power.
According to the data presented , the participation of the Gates is approximately 10% of the total financing of the WHO , in addition to the financing that it promotes towards its own programs.
References
Global Health Center. Public and private roles and responsibilities in covid-19: a conversation with the gates foundation. Interview conducted on April 14, 2021. Revised on March 16, 2022.
New York Times. Can Bill Gate vaccinate the world? Published March 3, 2021. Revised March 17, 2022.
Bill and Melina Gates Foundation. Our history. Revised March 17, 2022.
