Latest news with #GatesFoundation
Fox News
13 hours ago
- Health
- Fox News
Bill Gates reveals 'next phase of Alzheimer's fight' as he shares dad's personal battle
Bill Gates is speaking out about his personal experience with Alzheimer's — and his hope for progress in fighting the disease. In an essay published this week on his blog at the Microsoft co-founder and tech billionaire, 69, reflected on the difficulty of spending another Father's Day without his dad, Bill Gates Sr. The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer's. "It was a brutal experience, watching my brilliant, loving father go downhill and disappear," Gates wrote in the blog post. Today, motivated by his own experience with the common dementia, Gates — who serves as chair of the Gates Foundation — is committed to working toward a cure for the common dementia, which currently affects more than seven million Americans, or one in nine people over 65. In his blog, Gates expressed optimism about the "massive progress" being made in the fight against Alzheimer's and other dementias. Last year, Gates said he visited Indiana University's School of Medicine in Indianapolis to tour the labs where teams have been researching Alzheimer's biomarkers. "I also got the opportunity to look under the hood of new automated machines that will soon be running diagnostics around the world," he wrote. "It's an exciting time in a challenging space." One of the biggest breakthroughs in Alzheimer's research, according to Gates, is blood-based diagnostic tests, which detect the ratio of amyloid plaques in the brain. (Amyloid plaques, clumps of protein that accumulate in the brain, are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's.) "I'm optimistic that these tests will be a game-changer," Gates wrote. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first blood-based test for patients 55 years and older, as Fox News Digital reported at the time. "A simple, accurate and easy-to-run blood test might one day make routine screening possible." Traditionally, Gates noted, the primary path to Alzheimer's diagnosis was either a PET scan (medical imaging) or spinal tap (lumbar puncture), which were usually only performed when symptoms emerged. The hope is that blood-based tests could do a better job of catching the disease early, decline begins. "We now know that the disease begins 15 to 20 years before you start to see any signs," Gates wrote. "A simple, accurate and easy-to-run blood test might one day make routine screening possible, identifying patients long before they experience cognitive decline," he stated. Gates said he is often asked, "What is the point of getting diagnosed if I can't do anything about it?" To that end, he expressed his optimism for the future of Alzheimer's treatments, noting that two drugs — Lecanemab (Leqembi) and Donanemab (Kisunla) — have gained FDA approval. "Both have proven to modestly slow down the progression of the disease, but what I'm really excited about is their potential when paired with an early diagnostic," Gates noted. He said he is also hopeful that the blood tests will help speed up the process of enrolling patients in clinical trials for new Alzheimer's drugs. To accomplish this, Gates is calling for increased funding for research, which often comes from federal grants. "This is the moment to spend more money on research, not less," he wrote, also stating that "the quest to stop Alzheimer's has never had more momentum." "There is still a huge amount of work to be done — like deepening our understanding of the disease's pathology and developing even better diagnostics," Gates went on. "I am blown away by how much we have learned about Alzheimer's over the last couple of years." Gates pointed out that when his father had Alzheimer's, it was considered a "death sentence," but that is starting to change. "I am blown away by how much we have learned about Alzheimer's over the last couple of years," he wrote. For more Health articles, visit "I cannot help but be filled with a sense of hope when I think of all the progress being made on Alzheimer's, even with so many challenges happening around the world. We are closer than ever before to a world where no one has to watch someone they love suffer from this awful disease."
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Melinda French Gates Turns the Page
Emily Chang meets Melinda French Gates in Seattle to discuss how she's navigating her next chapter as a philanthropic powerhouse. (Source: Bloomberg)
Zawya
7 days ago
- Health
- Zawya
United Nations (UN) Women Launches a Multi-County Care Policy to Recognize and Support Unpaid Care Work
'This policy has finally put words to the struggle I have faced for years. I care for my aging mother and three grandchildren while running a small business. Now, I feel seen and supported.' — Jane Mutheu, Caregiver and Small Business Owner, Kitui County. In a stride toward gender equality and women empowerment, UN Women Kenya successfully launched the Evidence to Policy for Kenya Care Economy project in three counties — Kitui, West Pokot, and Laikipia to reshape Kenya's care infrastructure. The project, supported by the Gates Foundation, seeks to address the burden of care work, which is often shouldered by women. It aims to ensure that care work is recognized, reduced, rewarded, redistributed, and represented to foster a more inclusive society. Kenya's National Care Policy — the second of its kind in Africa after Cape Verde — is a transformative model for addressing structural gender inequality. The Policy seeks to transform how unpaid and paid care work is recognized, valued, and addressed in Kenya. At its core, the policy aims to recognize, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work and reward and represent paid care work through decent work and social protection mechanisms. Unpaid care work, though vital for the physical, emotional, and social well-being of children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and the ill, often goes unrecognized. In Kenya, women spend an average of 4–5 hours a day on unpaid care work compared to just one hour by men according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). This imbalance not only contributes to time poverty but also reinforces broader gender inequalities, limiting women's access to education, employment, leadership, and income. The Evidence to Policy project builds on the foundation of Kenya's 2023–2026 UN Women Strategic Note, which prioritizes economic empowerment and gender-responsive governance. With the care economy largely dependent on unpaid and unrecognized female labor, this project seeks to create equitable systems that support all caregivers, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds. The project introduces the Care Diamond framework — government, civil society, private sector, and households — as key actors in delivering and sustaining care systems. In West Pokot, UN Women Kenya Country Representative, Ms. Antonia Sodonon, accompanied by implementing partner Village Enterprise led the launch. The implementing partner works with grassroots communities to integrate care considerations in economic development initiatives. Laikipia County was part of the local rollout, implemented in partnership with Hand in Hand Eastern Africa (HiH-EA). Community dialogues here focused on balancing caregiving responsibilities with income-generating opportunities. In Kitui County, UN Women Kenya's Deputy County Representative, Dan Bazira, alongside the Governor Dr. Julius Makau Malombe, senior, Anglican Development Services Eastern (ADSE) and the State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action took part in the launch. The gathering aimed to advance inclusive dialogue, promote awareness, and deepen understanding of care work's impact on women's participation in public life. 'This policy is not just about women. It's about families, economies, and building resilient societies,' said Mr. Bazira, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder collaboration. 'It's a groundbreaking model on the continent—one that promotes the 5Rs of unpaid care work: Recognize, Reduce, Redistribute, Represent, and Reward.' Through this policy, the Government of Kenya is taking a critical step to correct that imbalance. It will guide the collection of time-use data, promote investment in public services like childcare and eldercare, and push for decent work conditions for paid care workers. This initiative aligns with global commitments under SDG 5.4 and national frameworks such as the Constitution of Kenya, Vision 2030, and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), specifically the President's 9-Point Agenda on Women. Government Buy-In and Bold Commitments In Kitui, Governor Malombe committed to aligning county development plans with the care policy. 'Care work fuels our communities, yet it's invisible in our budgets and policies. This must change. We are investing in Early Childhood Development, centers, water access, and GBV recovery centers because we know care is foundational,' he said. The Director of the State Department for Gender, Ms. Grace Wasike, urged further action: 'We must train domestic workers, build support systems for the elderly and disabled, and strengthen our collaboration across all government levels.' Implementing Partners Driving Local Impact In all counties, funded by Gates Foundation and supported by UN Women, grassroots partners are at the heart of the project. ADSE in Kitui is engaging communities to build care-responsive programs. Village Enterprise in West Pokot is integrating care into livelihoods. HiH EA in Laikipia is promoting gender-responsive technologies like kitchen gardens and time-saving tools. "This care policy is a promise — that women's unpaid labor is not a given, but a choice we must honor, value, and support," concluded Elizabeth Obanda, Women's Economic Empowerment Team Lead, UN Women Kenya. The policy is expected to usher in system-wide changes in how care is organized and shared—between the state, private sector, families, and communities. By addressing care work, it lays the foundation for inclusive economic growth, gender equality, and social protection—ensuring women and girls have the time, resources, and opportunities to thrive. The launches marked a milestone in translating Kenya's National Care Policy into action at the county level, engaging communities, governments, and development partners in making visible the invisible labor that sustains households and economies. The county-level launches are a first step in what UN Women hopes will become a nationwide movement. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women - Africa.
Al Jazeera
13-06-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Sorry, Mr Gates, your billions won't save Africa
On June 2 while addressing an audience in the Nelson Mandela Hall at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Bill Gates – the world's second richest person and co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – announced that a significant portion of his nearly $200bn fortune would be directed towards improving primary healthcare and education across Africa over the next two decades. This extraordinary philanthropic pledge is expected to fulfil a commitment he made on May 8 to donate 'virtually all' of his wealth before the Gates Foundation permanently closes on December 31, 2045. Former Mozambique first lady Graca Machel, a renowned humanitarian and global advocate for women's and children's rights, attended the event and welcomed the announcement. Describing the continent's current situation as at a 'moment of crisis', she declared: 'We are counting on Mr Gates's steadfast commitment to continue walking this path of transformation alongside us.' The Gates Foundation has operated in Africa for more than two decades, primarily in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. Over the years, it has funded a range of programmes in areas such as nutrition, healthcare, agriculture, water and sanitation, gender equality and financial inclusion. In agriculture alone, it has spent about $6bn on development initiatives. Despite this substantial investment, the foundation's efforts have been the subject of widespread criticism both in Africa and internationally. In particular, serious concerns have been raised about the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of the foundation's agricultural interventions – especially the Green Revolution model it has promoted through AGRA, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. Co-founded in 2006 by the Rockefeller and Gates foundations, AGRA aimed to improve food security and reduce poverty for 30 million smallholder households in 11 sub-Saharan African countries by 2021. Nineteen years on, the agricultural transformation Gates envisioned – driven by American capital and know-how – has failed to materialise. Experts argue that the Green Revolution model has not only fallen short on alleviating hunger and poverty but may in fact also be exacerbating both. Problems commonly cited include rising farmer debt, increased pesticide use, environmental degradation, declining crop diversity and a growing corporate stranglehold over Africa's food systems. The limitations of Gates's agricultural ambitions are, arguably, unsurprising. The model is rooted in the American Green Revolution of the 1940s and 1950s – a technological shift linked to settler-colonial agricultural systems and racialised power structures. Gates's philanthropic ideology, shaped by this legacy, risks reproducing systems of dependency and ownership in the Global South. At the core of the Green Revolution, past and present, is a belief in the supremacy of Western science and innovation. This worldview justifies the transfer of proprietary technologies to developing countries while simultaneously devaluing local knowledge systems and Indigenous expertise. Despite its rhetorical commitment to equity, the Gates Foundation often prioritises and financially benefits researchers, pharmaceutical firms and agritech corporations in the West far more than the smallholder farmers and local specialists it claims to serve. Kenyan agroecologist Celestine Otieno has described this model as 'food slavery' and a 'second phase of colonisation'. Meanwhile, the foundation's global health programmes have also drawn criticism for promoting technical, apolitical solutions that ignore the deeply rooted historical and political determinants of health inequity. Just as troubling is the fact that many of these interventions are implemented in poor communities with minimal transparency or local accountability. As Gwilym David Blunt, a political philosopher and lecturer in international politics, notes, transnational philanthropy – exemplified by the Gates Foundation – grants the ultra-wealthy disproportionate power over public priorities. This undermines the principle of autonomy that undergirds any vision of distributive global justice, including the right of Africans to shape their own futures. All of the African countries working with the Gates Foundation continue to face the enduring problems associated with foreign-designed economic interventions and chronic dependence on aid. South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria, for instance, are all contending with the fallout from United States President Donald Trump's cuts to the US Agency for International Development. Still, Gates's philanthropy is only one piece of a much larger, more entrenched problem. No amount of aid can compensate for the absence of visionary, ethical and accountable leadership – or the political instability that plagues parts of the continent. In this vacuum, figures like Gates step in. But these interventions can be politically expedient and risk concealing deeper systemic dysfunction. On June 1, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed awarded Gates the Grand Order of Merit of Ethiopia in recognition of the foundation's 25 years of contributions to the country. Yet even Gates would likely acknowledge that Ethiopia remains mired in corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency and persistent mismanagement of public funds. Abiy's nationalist rhetoric and disastrous internal policies helped trigger a 2020–2022 civil war, which claimed the lives of up to 600,000 people. Although the conflict formally ended in November 2022, Amnesty International has reported that millions still await justice. Human rights violations remain widespread with little accountability for atrocities committed in Tigray and Oromia. Despite overwhelming evidence, Abiy continues to deny any wrongdoing by his military, insisting in parliament that his forces have not committed war crimes. Such claims only underscore the deep crisis of leadership Ethiopia faces. What Ethiopia – and many other African states – urgently need is not another influx of Western money but a radical overhaul of governance. Indeed, Gates's contributions may paradoxically help prop up the very systems of impunity and dysfunction that block meaningful progress. This is why Machel's response to Gates's announcement was so disappointing. Rather than celebrating the promise of more Western aid, she could have used the moment to speak frankly about Africa's deeper crisis: corrupt, extractive and unaccountable leadership. Her suggestion that Africans should rely indefinitely on foreign benevolence is not only misguided – it also reinforces the very power dynamics that philanthropy claims to disrupt. Yes, Gates's decision to donate most of his fortune to Africa is, of course, admirable. But as an outsider immersed in the logic of 'white saviourism' and 'philanthrocapitalism', he cannot fix a continent's self-inflicted wounds. No foreign billionaire can. Only Africans – through transparent, courageous and locally driven leadership – can. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Survey: So how do Americans feel about math? The answer — like calculus and algebraic geometry — is complicated
So how to best describe Americans' relationship with math? The answer is, well, a lot like multivariable calculus: It's complicated. A national Gallup study reveals that more than 90% of American adults believe math skills are essential — but almost half say they wish they had left middle or high school with sharper skills in the wide-ranging subject. And more than a third report having nothing but negative feelings about math. 'Americans overwhelmingly believe math is essential in life and work, but many wish they had gained more real-world skills like data science and financial literacy,' said Justin Lall, principal at Gallup in the study report. 'Aligning math education with these practical applications could not only boost engagement, but better prepare future generations for success.' Titled 'Math Matters Study: The Value of Math in Work & Life,' the Gallup research found that almost all Americans agree that math is important in their lives. With support from the Gates Foundation, the Gallup study surveyed a diverse group of 5,136 U.S. adults, ages 18 and older, last December. Gallup also surveyed 2,831 managers. Ninety-five percent say math skills are 'very' or 'somewhat' important in their work life — and 96% say such skills are important in their personal lives. But disparities are found among generations. Sixty-five percent of adults aged 65 and older say math skills are 'very important' for work life, compared with 56% of 35- to 44-year-olds. Meanwhile, less than 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds consider math skills 'very important' in the workplace. Older Americans, according to the survey, are also more likely than younger adults to say math skills are important in their personal life. 'This single point in time survey cannot determine whether the oldest generations have valued math throughout their lives or whether the appreciation has grown as they have gotten older,' the survey noted. Across educational attainment, race and ethnicity, and household income, Americans' views of the importance of math skills are largely similar, the survey noted. A slight majority of study participants — 6 in 10 — believe math should be prioritized more highly than other school subjects. About a third feel math should be treated similarly to other subjects — while only 2% believe math should receive lower priority than other subjects. Meanwhile, a sizable number of Americans would likely be open to a math education 'do over.' More than 40% of U.S. adults responding to the Gallup study say they wish they had picked-up more math skills — a sentiment similar among Americans with a range of educational backgrounds. Desire to have learned more math in middle or high school is higher among Hispanic adults (51%) relative to Black (44%) and white adults (41%) — and higher among men compared with women (46% vs. 40%), according to the survey. And what specific math skills do many American adults wish they had learned more about as K-12 students? Financial math skills such as personal finances, budgeting and accounting top the wish list — followed by data science skills (such as managing spreadsheets), software, programming and statistics. No surprise, adults in the United States report a wide range of emotions regarding math. There's ambivalence about, say, algebra, geometry, calculus and other math subjects. The Gallup survey asked participants to select three words from a list of 10 to describe their math feelings. The selected word list included positive feelings such as 'happy' or 'interested' — and negative feelings such as 'bored' or 'confused.' The most frequently selected word was 'challenged,' suggesting a mixture of feelings toward math. Summarizing across the various math-related emotions, almost half of Americans (47%) have exclusively positive feelings about math — while 37% have exclusively negative feelings. Age is an important predictor of Americans' feelings toward math, the survey revealed. About half as many younger U.S. adults (32% of those aged 18 to 24) as older adults (61% of those ages 65 and older) have exclusively positive feelings toward math. While surveyed individuals report a personal mix of 'math feels,' there's apparently no such ambiguity in the workplace. The Gallup survey revealed the vast majority of managers value 'increased or enhanced math skills among their employees,' according to the survey. Eighty-five percent of managers wish their direct reports had more of at least one math skill — with the most desired skills being financial math, foundational math and data science. And students take note: More than half of managers surveyed say they will likely need to hire more individuals with data science skills such as managing spreadsheets or large amounts of information. Nearly 6 in 10 managers, according to the survey, say in the next five years it's 'very likely' or 'somewhat likely' that they will need to hire more individuals with data science skills than they currently have. The mixed sentiments reflected in the Gallup study are likely of keen interest to both parents and educators of Utah's junior high and high school students — particularly at a moment of historic disruptions in America's K-12 educational institutions. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress — aka 'The Nation's Report Card' — indicates Beehive State students are outperforming their nationwide counterparts in math. The 'National Report Card' math assessments measured students' knowledge and skills in mathematics — and their ability to solve problems in mathematical and real-world contexts. In 2024, the average math score of fourth grade students in Utah was 242 — higher than the average score for students in the nation. Utah's eighth graders scored, on average, scored 282 on the assessment, 10 points higher than the average score for students nationwide. Meanwhile, Utah tops national rankings in high school financial literacy. Every high school student in the state is required to pass a general financial literacy course that covers financial planning, career preparation, money management, savings and investing and other personal finance topics.
