African leaders, alongside global philanthropists and the UAE, pledged a combined sum of $777.2 million in a bid to help tackle neglected tropical diseases rising as a result of the climate crisis. 

The commitment was announced at COP28’s ‘Reaching the Last Mile Forum’ in Dubai as part of an inaugural ‘Health Day’, with philanthropist Bill Gates in attendance alongside Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan and Sierra Leone’s minister of health and sanitation, Austin Demby.  

Reaching the Last Mile, dubbed as the UAE’s commitment to eradicating disease, joined with the Gates Foundation to announce a milestone expansion of the Reaching the Last Mile Fund from $100 million to $500 million. Organisers say the expansion see funds reach 39 countries across the African continent and Yemen, with the audacious goal of eliminating two neglected tropical diseases, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis (river blindness), from the continent of Africa. 

“Climate change is inextricably linked to poverty and diseases affecting millions,” said Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “That is why funding for lifesaving healthcare is critical and why we’re joining global partners to build on the tremendous progress of the Reaching the Last Mile Fund to date and accelerate the elimination of LF (lymphatic filariasis) and river blindness across Africa and beyond.” 

The strategy marks a change from the Gates Foundation, who have thus far concentrated on polio and malaria.  

“Neglected tropical diseases cause suffering to millions, and we simply cannot afford to neglect them any longer,” said Julius Maada Bio, president of Sierra Leone.  

The UBS Optimus Foundation meanwhile pledged up to $50m. 

A World Health Organisation (WHO) roadmap targets at least 100 countries to have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease by 2030, and to reduce by 90 per cent the number of people requiring treatment for such diseases. So far, 50 countries have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease. Climate change is disrupting progress, with increasing prevalence of infectious diseases.  

Shafi Musaddique is a news editor at Alliance magazine.