Business Daily Gates Foundation CEO on cuts to global aid
Feb 3, 2026
Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leads global health and development work. He discusses how cuts to international aid have reversed child survival gains. He explains the impact of sudden funding withdrawals on vaccines and treatment. He addresses the Foundation's growing role, its priorities like malaria and polio, and experiments with AI in health.
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Aid Cuts Reversed Child Survival Progress
- Cuts to international aid directly reverse decades of child survival gains by reducing vaccines and treatments.
- Mark Suzman argues the 2023–24 funding drop explains the first rise in child deaths this century.
Scale Makes Small Cuts Deadly
- The scale of government aid means a 25% funding drop translates into billions fewer vaccines, antiretrovirals and bed nets.
- Suzman says that missing billions directly reduces the number of people who can be helped.
Zambia Minister: Cuts Cost Lives
- Zambia's Commerce Minister warned that aid cuts knowingly cost lives and exposed vulnerability.
- Suzman agreed and praised Zambia's heroic domestic responses despite debt pressures.