Lagos, June 21, 2023 – Bill Gates, the Co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has explained why he visited President Bola Tinubu in company of Aliko Dangote, the President of Aliko Dangote Foundation, during his official visit to Nigeria.
Gates visited President Bola Tinubu in the Presidential Villa in Abuja last week ahead of his official visit to Nigeria which started on Monday.
Gates spoke at an event hosted by the Lagos Business School and Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), in partnership with Africa.com and Channels Television in Lagos.
“I had a chance to meet with the newly elected president, and to encourage him that as resources are being allocated, to keep the challenges of equity in mind, we really do need to drive access to the key building blocks for example, in the health sector where there is a limited budget, you cannot run a good primary health care system, you can’t get vaccines.
“Our foundation is excited to be here and ready to work with incredible local partners. We’ve done a lot on malaria eradication, polio eradication,’ he said.
Gates lamented the gross inadequacies in health and education sectors in Nigeria.
He said that in a few states across Nigeria, there are access to high-health care, but for many other states women give birth at home, and if there are challenges, they don’t have access to life-saving care.
“If you look across the country, mothers’ chances of surviving childbirth or chances of a child growing up healthy it varies.
“Nigeria has one of the biggest young populations in the world. AI will be used to design malaria drugs.”
Gates explained how Prof. Bosede Afolabi, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Lagos, is working on challenge of anemia in pregnant women, noting that the condition that has not gotten enough attention in the medical community. (GBN)
