Hunger threatens to undo decades of global development, Bill Gates warns

“Today, the world is contending with more challenges than at any point in my adult life: inflation, debt, new wars. Unfortunately, aid isn’t keeping pace with these needs, particularly in the places that need it the most”, he says.

Ultimately, however, he says he’s “still an optimist”; “I think we can give global health a second act – even in a world where competing challenges require governments to stretch their budgets”.

To do this, he suggests a two-pronged approach. First, the world should “recommit” to the work that drove the progress in the early 2000s, especially investments in crucial vaccines and medicines. “They’re still saving millions of lives each year, and we can’t afford to backslide,” he says.

Secondly, he argues that science and technology are poised to provide many of the breakthroughs that are necessary. “The R&D pipeline  is brimming with powerful – and surprisingly cost effective – new breakthroughs. Now we just need to put them to work fighting the world’s most pervasive health crises. And it starts with good nutrition”.

Examples detailed in the report include expanding access to vitamins for pregnant mothers, fortifying basic kitchen staples, breeding more productive cows to increase milk yield and focussing funds into the new dedicated Child Nutrition Fund (see box below).