bill and Melinda gates foundation

Initiative to grow Africa’s food security

The world needs to produce 50% more food by 2050, and Africa can fill that need. This is the impetus behind the African Development...

Africa can improve access to healthcare for all

Africa bears one-quarter of the global disease burden, yet has only 2% of the world’s doctors. To improve the delivery of healthcare, the continent...

Debunking African agriculture myths

7 July 2016 In a presentation to the World Economic Forum on Africa in June 2016, Kenya-born Calestous Juma, a professor at Harvard University, explains...

The evolution of Bill Gates

Ahead of the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, to be given on 17 July, the eve of Mandela Day, we profile this year's speaker, philanthropist...

Bill Gates to deliver 2016 Nelson Mandela Lecture

Since the inaugural Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2003, speakers have been notable global leaders in their field – be it politics, human rights or economics. This year will be no different. Microsoft co-founder and global philanthropist Bill Gates will deliver the 14th annual lecture on the eve of Mandela Day.

Tech boost for South African libraries

The Gauteng government, national government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have joined forces to increase the technology available in libraries in South Africa. The most recent library to be upgraded is the Nkalimeng Leutsoa Public Library in Sharpeville.

Gates Foundation grant for developing data journalism in Africa

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $4,7 billion grant to support data journalism in Africa. The International Center for Journalists programme will run in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, including a journalism school in Cape Town.

South Africa, Gates Foundation to ‘reinvent the toilet’

The South African government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a R40-million partnership to develop toilets for rural and peri-urban communities that sanitise human waste, extract reusable water, energy and fertilizer, and operate completely "off the grid".

Bill Gates: Who says Africa will always be poor?

"Poor countries are doomed to stay poor." That's a myth Bill Gates passionately debunks. The founder of Microsoft and, today, co-founder – with his wife Melinda – of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has released a letter that explains why pessimism about the future of poor countries holds back their development.

Boost for African medical innovation

A R370-million partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the South African government and the University of Cape Town aims to develop vaccines and other medical innovations to fight TB, HIV and malaria. Led by local scientists, it will also help boost Africa's scientific research networks.