Today's Edition
ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)
When the Gates Foundation decided to bring its Goalkeepers platform to the MENA region, it picked Abu Dhabi with intent, the CEO Mark Suzman told reporters this week, pointing to the UAE’s “leadership” and Gulf countries’ general willingness to “step into the gap” on global health financing at a time when many traditional donors are cutting back.
“We have seen the UAE and other Gulf countries really step into the gap and increase their funding in these critical global health interventions,” Suzman said in response to Aletihad’s question during a closed media briefing on Monday.
The timing of the event comes as new data reveal that global progress in child health is stalling. The 2025 Goalkeepers report, which will be officially launched by Bill Gates in Abu Dhabi on December 8, projects the first increase in preventable child mortality in a quarter-century, with under-5 deaths expected to rise by 200,000 this year alone, up to 4.8 million.
“From 2000 to 2020, we saw a halving of preventable child mortality from over 10 million or nearly 10 million deaths a year to under 5 million deaths a year by 2020. And that decline has continued slowly. It slowed down during the COVID crisis, but has continued until, sadly, this year,” the Gates Foundation CEO said.
Among the key causes of the reversal are continued cuts to health aid by high-income countries, including the US, the UK, France and Germany, which Suzman warned “should not come at the expense of the world’s very poorest and most vulnerable”.
“If those cuts continue, we will likely see many more preventable deaths in the next 20 years.”
According to the Gates Foundation’s modelling, if global health funding decreases by 20-30%, 12-16 million more children could die of preventable diseases by 2045. Meanwhile, innovation and sustained funding could save up to 13.2 million children within the same timeframe.
In response to these setbacks, the Gates Foundation is ramping up its own commitments. Suzman said the organisation would spend $200 billion over the next 20 years — essentially the entire remaining Gates endowment.
“We cannot stop at almost ending preventable child mortality. We cannot stop at almost ending HIV, almost ending polio, almost ending malaria,” he said.
Goalkeepers Abu Dhabi, co-hosted by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity and the Gates Foundation, will convene high-level participants from the region and beyond to secure fresh commitments on maternal and child health, vaccination, and infectious diseases.
“We’re definitely hoping to build on and take advantage of the UAE’s leadership and willingness to host the event to announce some significant new commitments in a number of areas of global health,” Suzman said.
Global Polio Pledge: At the Last Mile, With Momentum at Stake
Abu Dhabi will test that bet on December 8, hosting another Gates-linked initiative on the same day as MENA’s first-ever Goalkeepers — a global pledging moment aimed at financing the final push to eradicate polio.
Wild poliovirus now circulates only in pockets of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but vaccine-derived strains still spark outbreaks in war-ridden countries like Yemen, Gaza, Sudan, and Somalia.
“Until polio is eradicated everywhere, children everywhere remain at risk”, Tala Al-Ramahi, spokeswoman for the Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, said during a closed media briefing on Thursday.
The upcoming pledging moment, jointly organised by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity and the Gates Foundation, is expected to close a $1.7 billion gap in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) budget and make polio the second human disease, after smallpox, to disappear for good.
The UAE has long been a top donor to the fight against polio, with more than $381 million committed since 2011 and over 850 million vaccine doses administered in high-risk areas of Pakistan through the Emirates Polio Campaign. The pledge is the third event of its kind that the country has convened, after raising $6.6 billion in previous rounds.
Al-Ramahi called the timing “exactly right”, warning that progress could stall without fresh money to keep surveillance and outbreak response running.
Steven Lauwerier, UNICEF’s director for polio eradication, said agencies have drafted a cost-saving action plan but still rely on donors to keep the programme going.
“With a fully funded programme, we vaccinate about 400 million children a year. This is one of the most successful programmes globally, and partnerships are reaching and having an impact every day for thousands and thousands of children,” he said.
Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, described the moment as decisive, warning that a loss of momentum now “can unfortunately return and paralyse up to 200,000 children every year, even in countries that have been polio-free for decades”.
Balkhy credited the UAE’s leadership for both “lifesaving vaccines to millions” and diplomatic coordination that keeps regional efforts aligned.
“I think it's just critical to understand that there's a lot of passion to eradicate polio, especially from the region. That's why I'm extremely optimistic and also very thankful for the event that's taking place in Abu Dhabi under the MBZ Foundation,” she said.
“The pledging moment in Abu Dhabi comes at exactly the right time to support countries through critical low-transmission seasons and ensure every child everywhere can receive the protection they deserve. So we're very much looking forward to that moment, and we're very happy to participate in any way we can.”
