Gates and OpenAI in $50m deal that will help fight global aid cuts by Trump and others

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are setting up a $50m (£37m) partnership to help several African countries use artificial intelligence to improve their health systems and mitigate the impact of international aid cuts, Bill Gates has said.

The partnership, called Horizon1000, plans to work with African leaders to determine how best to use the technology, starting with Rwanda.

“In poorer countries with enormous health worker shortages and lack of health systems infrastructure, AI can be a game-changer in expanding access to quality care,” said Gates in a blog post announcing the launch.

Speaking to Reuters in Davos, Gates said AI had the potential to help get the world back on track after international aid funding cuts last year were followed by the first rise in preventable child deaths this century.

A report from the Gates Foundation, published in December, projected that, by the end of 2025, there will be 4.8 million child deaths, compared with 4.6 million the year before. Until now, deaths of under-fives around the world had fallen every year since 2000, when the toll stood at 10 million.

“This year, sadly, is almost certain to be the first year of this century where that has not just stopped, but reversed,” Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman told The Independent at the time.

“By far, the largest single cause of death is the cuts in international aid,” he added. “When you pull back at short notice, that has consequences, and sadly those consequences are measured in human lives.”

On Donald Trump’s first day in office, he froze almost all US foreign assistance and later slashed funding to the United States Agency for International Development.

If funding for health decreases by 20 per cent, in line with the cuts proposed by a number of nations, 12 million more children could die by 2045, the report said.

Overall, global development assistance for health fell by just under 27 per cent last year compared to 2024, the Gates Foundation has estimated. AI could be particularly valuable in countries hit by these cuts, Gates said.

In the UK, the government plans to shrink the global development budget by 40 per cent. With a much smaller aid budget, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is prioritising spending on big international funds like the global vaccine alliance Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. These funds have still received cuts, but at a smaller scale.

“Using innovation, using AI, I think we can get back on track,” Gates told Reuters, adding that the technology would revolutionise healthcare.

“Our commitment is that the revolution will at least happen in the poor countries as quickly as it happens in the rich countries,” he added.

The foundation has already set up a number of AI initiatives, while Rwanda last year established an AI health hub in Kigali.

“It is about using AI responsibly to reduce the burden on healthcare workers, to improve the quality of care, and to reach more patients,” Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s minister of information and communications technology and innovation, said in a video statement released on Wednesday.

Horizon1000 aims to reach 1,000 primary health clinics and surrounding communities across several countries by 2028, Gates said, adding that some countries have only one doctor per 50,000 people even in big urban areas – far below the ratio in most high-income countries.

Gates told Reuters that the initiative would likely focus on improving care for pregnant women and HIV patients, by supporting them with advice before they reach the clinic – particularly if they speak a different language from the healthcare provider.

On arrival, AI would help reduce paperwork and link up patient histories and appointments more effectively, he added.

“A typical visit, we think, can be about twice as fast and of much better quality,” he said.

This article was produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project

Reuters contributed to this report