Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will allocate $7 billion to help African countries, many charity organizations have lost their support, having redirected the funds to Ukraine, reports CNN. At the same time, experts estimate that rising food prices due to the Ukrainian conflict, the effects of the pandemic and drought have put more than 10 million Africans at risk of a food crisis.
On Thursday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it would give $7 billion in aid to African countries over the next four years, CNN reports. Bill Gates warned that the Ukraine crisis has led to a reduction in financial support for Africa.
The channel says humanitarian organisations in Africa are struggling to cope with the shortage of funds after many foundations started helping Ukraine. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has also caused price increases around the world, which has also had a negative impact on charities. In addition, Kenya and much of East Africa have been hit by the worst drought in 40 years and the UN is expecting reports of famine in parts of Somalia this year. This week, the US-headquartered charity World Vision pointed out that the drought, combined with the effects of the conflict in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, has put more than 10 million people living in the African region “at risk of a food crisis”.
“European budgets have been hit hard by the Ukrainian conflict and so right now there is a tendency not to increase (humanitarian aid. – InoTV),” Bill Gates explained to reporters at the University of Nairobi during a visit to Kenya.
He predicted that in a few years the amount of financial support to Africa, including for climate protection, will start to decline.
Earlier on Wednesday, after meeting Kenyan President William Ruto, Gates said his foundation would have a regional centre in Nairobi. The billionaire added that the foundation would continue to sponsor solutions to health, agricultural and other vital problems, and would also provide funds to take them from laboratories to the people who need them. The organization has spent $6.7 billion on charity in 2021, and last week pledged $1.4 billion to help small-scale farmers around the world cope with climate change, according to CNN.