Africa Matters

Gates Foundation Allocates $30 Million Towards Advancing AI In Africa

The investment is the foundation’s latest effort to bring the benefits of AI to low- and middle-income countries. On Tuesday, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $30 million investment in a new AI platform in Africa that it says will aid scientists in developing solutions for healthcare and social issues across the continent. The foundation hopes the…

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Gates Gives $40 mln to Boost Access to mRNA Vaccines in Africa 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $40 million, including to a Belgian biotech company and two leading African vaccine manufacturers, in a bid to boost access to mRNA vaccines for protection against various diseases in Africa. Nivelles-based Quantoom Biosciences will get $20 million to advance work on its mRNA manufacturing platform, while the Institut Pasteur de Dakar…

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AGRF 2023: Progress and Challenges in Gender Equality Take Center Stage

The AGRF 2023 wasn’t just another yearly convening of stakeholders in Africa’s agrifood landscape; it was a platform where monumental findings from the “Status of Women in Agrifood Systems” (SWAFS) report were fervently discussed. This report, unveiled in April 2023, has rattled many by revealing the gender gaps costing sub-Saharan Africa a whopping USD 95 billion every year. Yet,…

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Tanzania lays the groundwork for issuing universal ID

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is consulting the US-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the possibility of establishing the Universal National Identification Card (ID), it was revealed yesterday in Parliament. A new move is meant to integrate the National ID card with other IDs and cut costs that the government is incurring in purchasing raw cards and printing of…

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AGRA says reliance on organic fertilizer not enough to meet food needs

Madam Asseta Diallo, Senior Programmes Officer at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Ghana says the country’s dependence on organic fertilisers for soil nutrients may not help achieve food security. She explained that Ghana had a poor fertility status where about 65 per cent of agricultural land was depleted or severely degraded due to human activities…

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Gates to spend $7b to fight hunger, disease and poverty in Africa

Summary The foundation is calling on global leaders to commit to finding solutions and strengthening systems in Africa by investing in people and innovations that can save lives and create opportunities for the world’s most vulnerable.  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committing $7 billion over the next four years to support African countries to deal with hunger, disease, gender inequality and poverty.   The Foundation’s co-chair Bill Gates said these resources would help strengthen health systems and enhance access to health care, reduce child deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases, pneumonia, malaria and measles. “This new…

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Inside billionaire Bill Gates’ trip to Nairobi

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be in Nairobi, Kenya, to visit national and local leaders, partners, and grantees; meet with regional scientists and innovators; and announce the foundation’s forward-looking commitment to support new innovations and ingenuity aimed at improving health, food security, and gender equality in African countries. Since the foundation’s inception in…

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