By 2045, Bill Gates Intends To Distribute The Majority Of His Wealth To Improve Health And Education In Africa

Bill Gates intends on allocating the majority of his wealth to Africa.

As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Microsoft founder Bill Gates plans to donate the majority of his wealth by 2045 — an estimated $200 billion. Despite this massive philanthropic effort, he is still expected to remain a billionaire and may even stay the fifth-richest person in the world, BBC reports. 

“People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” he wrote in a blog post, per BBC.

Gates intends to distribute his wealth through his foundation. The original plan was for the foundation to continue operating beyond his lifetime; however, he now has faith in the next generation of wealthy individuals to carry on his efforts, believing they will be better positioned to do so.

“At the end of 20 years, the foundation will sunset its operations,” the Gates Foundation said in a statement, per BBC.

In the meantime, Gates will focus on using his wealth to improve education and health care in Africa over that time period.

“I recently made a commitment that my wealth will be given away over the next 20 years. The majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa,” Gates said in an address at the African Union (AU) headquarters.

He further stated that “by unleashing human potential through health and education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity.”

In the area of health, the Gates Foundation aims to address preventable deaths of mothers and babies, combat deadly infectious diseases, and significantly reduce poverty. It has already been working closely with Rwanda to detect high-risk pregnancies using artificial intelligence-enabled ultrasound.

“Africa largely skipped traditional banking and now you have a chance, as you build your next generation healthcare systems, to think about how AI is built into that,” Gates said.

Mozambique’s former First Lady Graça Machel commented:

“We are counting on Mr Gates’ steadfast commitment to continue walking this path of transformation alongside us.”