Overview

• A senior White House official confirmed Gates met President Trump on Tuesday, with Gates’s spokesperson saying the discussion centered on the importance of U.S. global health programs and the role of health research in saving lives and preserving U.S. leadership.
• Gates has publicly condemned the administration’s closure of USAID, which ceased operations on June 30, calling the consequences preventable and urging a reversal.
• Gates has cited a Lancet preprint projecting severe outcomes if U.S. aid reductions persist, including 8 million additional child deaths, 15.2 million excess AIDS deaths, and 2.2 million more tuberculosis deaths by 2040.
• Recent Gates Foundation commitments include a $2.5 billion pledge for women’s health and a plan to allocate the majority of its roughly $200 billion budget over the next 20 years to Africa.
• News reports indicate the foundation halted grants to Arabella Advisors and scaled back DEI-related funding, moves described by the New York Times as intended to insulate the organization from political pressure.