Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

In October 2024, Madagascar took an integrated approach to stopping simultaneous outbreaks of polio and measles, offering vaccines for both diseases to families at the same time. Led by the Government of Madagascar, in collaboration with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners, this nationwide effort vaccinated over 5.4 million children against polio, 4.6 million against measles, and successfully reached hundreds of thousands of children who had never received any vaccination before. Integrated campaigns like this one offer immense community benefits, delivering more health services for less. Thanks to the dedication of health workers, and the support of partners like UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi, Madagascar is making significant strides towards eliminating these preventable diseases. Working together, we can reach children with lifesaving vaccines and create a healthier future for all. https://adobe.ly/3DDnHdP

Curbing childhood deaths means more shots at a healthy future for kids around the world. Bill Gates on how we cut childhood mortality in half—and how we can do it again.

Remarkable progress has been achieved in the fight against malaria, yet cases continue to rise, reaching 263 million globally in 2023. Tune into the latest episode of The Root of the Science podcast to hear from the Malaria Atlas Project’s Susan Rumisha and our very own Jenn Gardy on why the next 5 years are critical to achieving a malaria-free world: https://bit.ly/3ZYIZeN #SheFightsMalaria

We know that well-funded research can create jobs, strengthen economies, improve health, save lives, and alleviate poverty. By investing in bold, innovative solutions, governments and the private sector around the globe can push the boundaries of science and technology, driving breakthroughs that can benefit us all. That’s exactly the kind of optimism we need as we look to the future. But, before we close out this year, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the incredible strides made in global health in 2024. As we reflect on the progress made, it reminds us that when we expand the horizon of human opportunity, we can find the solutions that will enable every person to live a healthy, productive life.

When women have autonomy over their bodies, everyone benefits. Still, too many women face hurdles to getting the healthcare they deserve. Removing these hurdles could result in an increase of $1 trillion in the world’s economy. Our partner Wendo Aszed of Dandelion Africa shares why investing in women’s health and family planning services could improve millions of lives: https://lnkd.in/gZ68TEmn

Heroes like Ayesha Ali Raza are working to ensure that children everywhere are protected from polio’s devastating and preventable consequences. Hear Ayesha’s story and learn more about what we can do to #EndPolio for good:

Meet Dr. Shabir Madhi and Dr. Cathy Ndiaye, two committed public health researchers working to save lives with one powerful intervention: vaccines. Dr. Madhi is a physician and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand. His research was critical to developing the first maternal vaccine protecting infants from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—a leading cause of infant pneumonia and bronchitis. With 97% of RSV-related infant deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries, Dr. Mahdi is now focused on ensuring more communities around the world can access this life-saving tool. Dr. Ndiaye knows firsthand the costs of cervical cancer: She lost her aunt and grandmother to the disease during her childhood. But it wasn’t until she moved to the US for her education that she learned of the stark disparities in access to effective prevention and treatment around the world. Now the Director of HPV Vaccine Programs at PATH, she’s helping expand access to HPV vaccines that can prevent cervical cancer with a single dose, and paving the way toward a world where no woman suffers from this disease. Read our recent TIME feature to learn more about Dr. Madhi and Dr. Ndiaye’s work and the incredible power of vaccines: https://bit.ly/4gCXDOj

Check out our open jobs: https://gates.ly/3ZWcYnE Become part of our Talent Community: https://bit.ly/41AvjI8

What keeps you optimistic? For Bill Gates, it’s meeting unsung heroes like Dora Shimbwambwa, a plant researcher in Zambia. For years, smallholder farmers have struggled to keep their plants safe from pests and diseases that decimate their crop yields. As part of her role as a researcher, Dora develops solutions, like biopesticides, that target invasive pests without leaving toxic residues. She hasn’t just stopped there. To ensure farmers have access to these innovative solutions, Dora regularly travels to rural communities to meet with smallholder farmers and conduct trainings and field trials. She even keeps farmers’ hours—rising every day at 3 am. Her work is part of a larger effort to increase the number of women in agricultural research and help build a brighter future for African farmers. Learn more and explore Dora’s story: https://lnkd.in/gKqfxQyK

Building a care economy that supports women helps communities thrive, yet care work is often undervalued and unpaid. Women disproportionately bear the brunt of this work, spending nearly three times more hours on unpaid care work than men, hindering their workforce participation and economic power. An estimated 606 million working-age women consider themselves unavailable for employment because of unpaid care work, compared to only 41 million men. We have the tools to change this: By formalizing childcare services and increasing the availability of policies like paid parental leave, we can help redistribute care responsibilities and reduce care inequality. A strong care economy won’t just improve women’s economic power, it has the potential to boost the global economy by almost $3.4 trillion by 2030. Explore this conversation with Radu Ban, senior program officer of Gender Data and Evidence at the foundation, to learn more about what lies ahead on the path to a more inclusive and equitable care economy: https://lnkd.in/g6kshu9S