Gates Foundation chief sees Middle East strife undermining long-term efforts on malnutrition and immunization

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Updated 30 September 2024
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Gates Foundation chief sees Middle East strife undermining long-term efforts on malnutrition and immunization

  • Mark Suzman says conflicts and humanitarian disasters in places like Gaza and Sudan overlap with cases of malnutrition
  • Lauds “true leadership role” being played by Arab Gulf states through prudent and precise humanitarian investment

NEW YORK CITY: As world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, any residual optimism about the prospect of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the decade looks fainter than ever before.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, believes the world had already been falling behind with regard to the SDGs even prior to this latest crisis. Speaking to Arab News, he issued a stark warning on the consequences for humanity if the aims go unmet.

Following the publication of the foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report, Suzman appealed for a renewed global commitment to achieving the 2030 goals — 15 years after the ambitious targets, ranging from eradicating poverty to combating climate change, were set.

The theme of this year’s report is focused on what Suzman described as the “blight of malnutrition” — a scourge that has ravaged parts of the Middle East and North Africa owing to conflicts in Gaza, Yemen, and Sudan, inflationary pressures, and the impact of climate change.




Coletta Kemboi selling her milk at a market in Eldoret City, Kenya. (Gates Archive)

Despite recording significant progress across key indicators since the start of the new millennium, recent data has revealed a slowdown in development across the board, presenting what Suzman called a “broad picture of stagnation.”

The Gates Foundation, launched in 2000, is the second-largest charitable body in the world.

Suzman said the world had reason to feel optimistic in the wake of the new millennium. Buoyed by successful global health and vaccination campaigns, a halving of preventable child mortality took place between 2000 and 2020 — from 10 million deaths per year to fewer than five million.




Acute malnutrition measurement 2. (UNICEF)

“A lot of that was on the back of massively increased vaccination rates and the scale up of vaccines through the GAVI Vaccine Alliance,” he said, referring to the global public-private health partnership devoted to increasing access to immunization in poor countries.

“During the first 15 years of the 21st century and the first five years of the SDGs, we had rapid progress, especially in the areas of global health that the foundation focuses most deeply on.”

Amid faltering SDG progress, however, “we are now at a stage, where, in 2024, the world has not gone back and has yet to achieve its 2019 vaccination rates.”




The distribution of WFP-provided aid resumes after its suspension since the killing on July 21 of the head of the UN agency's office in Taez in a shooting in a nearby city. (File/AFP)

And it is not only vaccination campaigns that have stagnated. Progress on beating hunger has also lagged — something the Goalkeepers report says could result in unimaginable human suffering if the world fails to act.

A lack of immediate global action on malnutrition linked to climate change is expected to condemn an additional 40 million children to stunting and 28 million more to wasting between 2024 and 2050, the report found.

A slowdown in foreign aid to the African continent — despite more than half of all child deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa — threatens to leave hundreds of millions of children at serious risk of dying or suffering from preventable diseases.

Malnutrition has receded from global awareness as other needs — like the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the European migration crisis — have gained prominence.




Children react following an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Falluja near the Jabalia refugee camp in the norther Gaza Strip. (File/AFP)

“But our view is that these are all important priorities and they should not be at the expense of these critical long-term investments in global health,” said Suzman.

“And that’s one of the reasons why we picked nutrition this year. Because we highlight that as an area which has both been underinvested in historically, but actually has, we believe, the potential for some relatively low-cost, high-impact interventions now.”

One solution being deployed in Africa is food fortification, which, at relatively miniscule cost, has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year, according to the Goalkeepers report.

By adding nutrients to common ingredients like bouillon cubes and iodized salt, about 16.6 million cases of anemia could be prevented in Nigeria and 5,000 preventable deaths avoided in Ethiopia.




Goalkeeper, Sushama Das, (in red on the right) enjoys lunch with her family in Astaranga Village, Odisha State, India. (Gates Archive)

New technologies in the dairy industry to increase the amount of milk produced in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania could prevent millions of cases of childhood stunting over the next 30 years, the report found.

The low-cost, high-stakes equation is at the heart of Suzman’s message in arguing for immediate intervention to end malnutrition.

“This is a true global crisis,” he said. “We’re talking about one in four children who do not get enough to eat and the effects are permanent. When you’ve suffered from stunting or wasting, your body and brain will never develop to its full potential.

“We have some data in the report that shows it’s not just about resilience and health. These children are less likely to stay in school.

IN NUMBERS

* 16.6m Anemia preventable in Nigeria with addition of nutrients to food.

* $3tn Estimated productivity loss globally owing to malnutrition.

* 50% Reduction in child mortality between 2000 and 2020.

“If you don’t stay in school, you’re less likely to have strong educational outcomes, you’re less likely to get a job and you’re more likely to live in poverty.

“And if you aggregate that up across societies, this is a long-term drag on economic and social prosperity, and we should not be allowing this to happen as a world.”

One method that the foundation is employing in its appeal to leaders and policy makers is constructing a macro view on malnutrition and other global health issues.

The Goalkeepers report underlines one statistic in particular that is likely to alarm policy makers — every year, more than $3 trillion in productivity is lost because of malnutrition, due to the combined loss in physical and cognitive abilities across human populations.

For low-income countries, the cost can be even greater, at 3-16 percent of gross domestic product. The result is that some of the world’s poorest countries must confront the equivalent of a permanent 2008-level recession every year, the report warned.




9-month-old Hafsat Abubakar is held by her mother, Safiya Ibrahim, at their home in the Sarkin Adar Gidan Igwai neighbourhood of Sokoto. (UNICEF)

By highlighting the economic toll of failing to act, Suzman has found a means to engage with government ministers and policy makers around the world. The numbers behind this human suffering “become more concrete if you’re trying to talk to a finance minister,” he said.

“The additional healthcare burden, for those who are malnourished — it’s a 20 year cycle. The returns on investing in a healthy child come through 20 years later when they become healthy, productive members of an economy. And that’s not something that politicians, if they’re focusing on the next year or two, will necessarily pay attention to.

“We’re really trying to highlight that because also it makes sense from an international aid perspective. You want to invest in long-term health and resilience of populations, because they’re more likely to then provide productive opportunities for their own citizens and build an all-round healthier world.

“Trying to highlight those numbers and that impact is exactly what this report is intended to do for policy makers and funders.”




A nurse registers women for prenatal consultations at the health center in Gisenyi, Rwanda on April 30, 2019. (Gates Archive)

Conflicts and humanitarian disasters often overlap with cases of malnutrition, said Suzman, highlighting the examples of famine-struck Gaza and Sudan. But the long-term building of development structures and health systems can help build resilience.

“The number of mothers and children facing malnutrition (in Gaza and Sudan) is just much higher than it should be and needs to be addressed urgently,” he said.

Suzman believes national and multilateral initiatives to provide urgent cash can offer a ray of hope amid persistent funding gaps. He said the Gulf states had been able to “play a true leadership role” through prudent and precise humanitarian investment.




Dr. Nsanzimana Sabin, the Minister of Health, personally administers the inaugural doses of Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation to a pregnant woman, symbolizing the commencement of a transformative healthcare initiative. (UNICEF)

In particular he highlighted the Lives and Livelihoods Fund, an initiative that provides affordable financing to the poorest 30 member countries of the Islamic Development Bank.

“We helped set it up with the governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar,” he said. “The fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced an additional $100 million contribution earlier this year, which we’re matching.

“That’s supporting efforts like rice resilience across West Africa or child mortality, maternal mortality investments also in some of these crisis situations.

“So, we hope that that type of partnership can actually help address crises both in the region and more broadly, while also using our voice to support the very important humanitarian efforts that are underway in the crisis situations.”




Displaced Sudanese who have returned from Ethiopia gather in a camp run by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Sudan's border town of Gallabat. (File/AFP)

Earlier this year, Gaza reported its first case of polio in 25 years. Its reemergence alarmed health officials and policy makers, coming decades after a global campaign to eradicate the virus saw significant success.

Suzman described the polio case as a “completely avoidable tragedy” that was precipitated by Israel’s ongoing military operation in the Palestinian enclave.

The conflict, as well as ongoing violence in Syria, Yemen and Sudan, are further examples of the ability of short-term crises to undermine long-term development efforts, he said.

“The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has stepped in to launch and now complete a critical vaccination campaign (in Gaza). We’ve actually seen that in other crises. The GPEI has also worked in Syria and Yemen. This is a challenge.”




The war which has raged since April 2023 between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than ten million people, according to the United Nations. (File/AFP)

Suzman has particular praise for Saudi Arabia’s commitment of $500 million to the GPEI earlier this year, describing the donation as “really profoundly important.”

“We’re the largest global funders of polio campaigns, but Saudi Arabia is now very much one of the top funders and I think it’s an appreciation of the fact that we need to tackle these issues in all crisis situations, because you still have to vaccinate every child globally long as there are any cases circulating in any country,” he said.

“It’s a very good example of the broader challenges of health financing and the risks that stay with you if you take your eye off the ball. If you allow these things to happen, the consequences can be profound.”

The scale of the problem, as revealed by the Gates Foundation’s annual report, is both immense and intimidating, with far-reaching global consequences.




A young Palestinian man sits next to a mural that he painted on the rooftop of a destroyed house in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, to show his solidarity with the people of Gaza and Lebanon. (File/AFP)

Suzman, however, remains convinced that eradicating malnutrition, boosting health indicators and building climate resilience are not Sisyphean tasks, but achievable targets that can be realized through cheap, targeted investment.

“We want this report to be read by government leaders, policymakers, philanthropists and private sector leaders who work in this space,” he said.

“We want them both to understand the magnitude of the challenge and why malnutrition, actually, does affect them — understand connections, not just the humanitarian tragedy.”

What is his message to people with the power to effect change?




Portrait of Elena Swain, daughter of Goalkeeper, Sushama Das, with her son, Sraboni, in Astaranga Village, Odisha State, India. (Supplied)

“The scale of funding we’re talking about is very doable and achievable.”

The return on investment would not only save the lives of children in some of the world’s poorest and most conflict-ridden countries, but will, over the next two decades, build a “healthier and more resilient world,” he said.

“That’s the message we hope will come out. And we hope policymakers will listen to it.”


UK PM Starmer to agree deal to strengthen EU partnership, his office says

Updated 18 May 2025
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UK PM Starmer to agree deal to strengthen EU partnership, his office says

  • Brexit has grown increasingly unpopular with the British electorate

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to agree a deal next week to strengthen the country’s post-Brexit partnership with the European Union and to facilitate trade in some food products, his office said on Saturday.
Starmer will welcome EU leaders to London on Monday to help reset relations with the bloc, with both sides aiming to secure progress in specific areas while others will remain off-limits.
Britain left the EU in 2020, but Starmer has been trying to boost ties with the country’s biggest trading partner since his center-left Labour Party won last year’s national election.
The summit will result in a deal, his office said, though it provided few details beyond saying it would improve the situation for British producers currently facing checks on products or unable to export, and also that it would ease matters for families facing higher bills and queues when traveling.
“This week, the Prime Minister will strike yet another deal that will deliver in the national interest of this country. It will be good for growth, good for jobs, good for bills, and good for our borders,” Starmer’s 10 Downing Street office said in a statement.
Starmer on Friday raised the prospect that a youth mobility deal with the European Union would be struck at the summit.
Brexit has grown increasingly unpopular with the British electorate, opinion polls suggest, with the economy faring poorly in recent years and international trade a particular weak spot.


Bomb at fertility clinic in California kills one

Updated 18 May 2025
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Bomb at fertility clinic in California kills one

LOS ANGELES: An explosion outside a California fertility clinic Saturday killed one person in what the local mayor described as a bomb attack.
The blast ripped through downtown Palm Springs, badly damaging the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of other nearby buildings, in what the city’s police chief said appeared to have been a deliberate act.
“The blast appears to be an intentional act of violence and the blast extends for blocks with several buildings damaged, some severely,” Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills said.
“There has been one fatality, the person’s identity is not known.”
Eyewitnesses told local media they had seen human remains near the American Reproductive Centers clinic, which appeared to have been badly damaged in the blast.
A statement posted on social media by the clinic said no staff had been hurt when the blast went off.
“This morning, an unexpected and tragic incident occurred outside our Palm Springs facility when a vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building,” it said.
“We are heartbroken to learn that this event claimed a life and caused injuries, and our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.
“We are immensely grateful to share that no members of the ARC team were harmed, and our lab — including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials — remains fully secure and undamaged.”
Reproductive care, including abortion and fertility services, remain controversial in the United States, where some conservatives believe the procedures should be outlawed for religious reasons.
Violence against clinics providing such services is rare, but not unheard of.
US Attorney Bill Essayli said his office was aware of the blast.
“FBI is on scene and will be investigating whether this was an intentional act,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The local ABC affiliate, which cited an unnamed law enforcement source, reported five people were injured in the explosion and the person who died was a suspect in the blast.
Video posted online by witnesses showed debris scattered in the street in front of the clinic and windows shattered at multiple businesses in the area.
People living nearby reported feeling the shaking from the blast throughout the city.
Matt Spencer, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, told the Palm Springs Post he ran outside as soon as he heard the blast, and was confronted with the sight of the burned out car and what appeared to be a body in the middle of the road.
“In front of the building [the car] was blown clear across four lanes into the parking lot of [Desert Regional Medical Center],” he told the paper.
“I could see the back of the car still on fire and the rims, that was the only thing that distinguished it as a car.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom had been briefed on the explosion, his office said.
President Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents were working to determine exactly what had happened.
“But let me be clear: the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America. Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable,” she said in a statement on social media.


Five dead in helicopter collision in Finland, police say

Updated 18 May 2025
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Five dead in helicopter collision in Finland, police say

Five people were killed on Saturday when two helicopters collided and crashed in a wooded area near Eura Airport in southwestern Finland, police said.
Police said the mid-air collision occurred shortly after noon near the town of Kauttua, with the wreckage falling some 700 metres  from the Ohikulkutie road.
"Five people have died in a helicopter accident near Eura Airport on Saturday," Detective Chief Inspector Johannes Siirilä of the National Bureau of Investigation said.
According to flight plans, there were two people aboard one helicopter and three in the other, police said, adding that both helicopters were registered outside Finland.
One helicopter was registered in Estonia, the other in Austria, according to an Estonian Public Broadcasting  report, citing Finland's Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. Both belonged to Estonian companies. One was owned by NOBE and the other by Eleon, the report added.
The helicopters were reportedly en route to a hobby aviation event, according to the Pori Aviation Club, Yle News reported.
The National Bureau of Investigation is leading a joint probe with local police, and Finnish and Estonian authorities are cooperating.


Severe weather leaves at least 27 dead, including 18 in Kentucky

Updated 18 May 2025
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Severe weather leaves at least 27 dead, including 18 in Kentucky

LONDON, Kentucky: At least 27 people have been killed by storms systems that swept across part of the US Midwest and South, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announcing Saturday that 18 of the deaths came in his state and 10 others were hospitalized in critical condition.
A devastating tornado in Kentucky damaged homes, tossed vehicles and left many people homeless. Seventeen of the deaths were in Laurel County, located in the state’s southeast, and one was in Pulaski County: Fire Department Maj. Roger Leslie Leatherman, a 39-year veteran who was fatally injured while responding to the deadly weather.
Parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen, Beshear said. He also said the death toll could still rise.
“We need the whole world right now to be really good neighbors to this region,” the governor said.
State Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said hundreds of homes were damaged,
Kayla Patterson, her husband and their five children huddled in a tub in their basement in London, the county seat, as the tornado raged around them.
“You could literally hear just things ripping in the distance, glass shattering everywhere, just roaring like a freight train,” she recalled Saturday. “It was terrible.”
The family eventually emerged to the sounds of sirens and panicked neighbors. While the family’s own home was spared, others right behind it were demolished, Patterson said as the sound of power tools buzzed in the background. The neighborhood was dotted with piles of lumber, metal sheeting, insulation and stray belongings — a suitcase, a sofa, some six-packs of paper towels.
Rescuers were searching for survivors all night and into the morning, the sheriff’s office said. An emergency shelter was set up at a local high school and donations of food and other necessities were arriving.
The National Weather Service hadn’t yet confirmed that a tornado struck, but meteorologist Philomon Geertson said it was likely. It ripped across the largely rural area and extended to the London Corbin Airport shortly before midnight.
Resident Chris Cromer said he got the first of two tornado alerts on his phone around 11:30 p.m. or so, about a half-hour before the tornado struck. He and his wife grabbed their dog, jumped in their car and scrambled to the crawlspace at a relative’s nearby home because the couple’s own crawlspace is small.
“We could hear and feel the vibration of the tornado coming through,” said Cromer, 46. A piece of his roof was ripped off, and windows were broken, but homes around his were destroyed.
“It’s one of those things that you see on the news in other areas, and you feel bad for people — then, when it happens, it’s just surreal,” he said. “It makes you be thankful to be alive, really.”
The storm was the latest severe weather to cause deaths and widespread damage in Kentucky. Two months ago, at least 24 people died in a round of storms that swelled creeks and submerged roads. Hundreds of people were rescued, and most of the deaths were caused by vehicles getting stuck in high water.
A storm in late 2021 spawned tornadoes that killed 81 people and leveled portions of towns in western Kentucky. The following summer, historic floodwaters inundated parts of eastern Kentucky, leaving dozens more dead.
Missouri pounded by storms, with deaths confirmed in St. Louis
About 1,200 tornadoes strike the US annually, and they have been reported in all 50 states over the years. Researchers found in 2018 that deadly tornadoes were happening less frequently in the traditional “Tornado Alley” of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas and more frequently in parts of the more densely populated and tree-filled mid-South area.
The latest Kentucky storms were part of a weather system Friday that killed seven in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said. The system also spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, brought a punishing heat wave to Texas and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois — including Chicago — in a pall of dust on an otherwise sunny day.
“Well that was.....something,” the weather service’s Chicago office wrote on X after issuing its first-ever dust storm warning for the city. Thunderstorms in central Illinois had pushed strong winds over dry, dusty farmland and northward into the Chicago area, the weather agency said.
In Missouri, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured and more than 5,000 homes were affected in her city.
“The devastation is truly heartbreaking,” she said at a news conference Saturday. An overnight curfew was to continue in the most damaged neighborhoods.
Weather service radar indicated a likely tornado touched down between 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. in Clayton, Missouri, in the St. Louis area. The apparent tornado touched down in the area of Forest Park, home to the St. Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World’s Fair and Olympic Games the same year.
Three people needed aid after part of the Centennial Christian Church crumbled, St. Louis Fire Battalion Chief William Pollihan told The Associated Press.
Stacy Clark said his mother-in-law, Patricia Penelton, died in the church. He described her as a very active church volunteer who had many roles, including being part of the choir.
John Randle said he and his girlfriend were at the St. Louis Art Museum during the storm and were hustled into the basement with about 150 other people.
“You could see the doors flying open, tree branches flying by and people running,” said Randle, 19.
At the Saint Louis Zoo, falling trees severely damaged the roof of a butterfly facility. Staffers quickly corralled most of the butterflies, the zoo said on social media, and a conservatory in suburban Chesterfield is caring for the displaced creatures.
A tornado struck in Scott County, about 130 miles  south of St. Louis, killing two people, injuring several others and destroying multiple homes, Sheriff Derick Wheetley wrote on social media.
Forecasters say severe weather could batter parts of the Plains
The weather service said that supercells are likely to develop across parts of Texas and Oklahoma Saturday afternoon before becoming a line of storms in southwest Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas on Saturday night.
The biggest risks include large to very large hail that could be up to 3.5 inches  in size, damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes.
These conditions were expected to continue on Sunday across parts of the central and southern Plains as well as parts of the central High Plains.
“Be prepared to take action if watches and warnings are issued for your area,” the weather service said.


Germany ‘deeply concerned’ about situation in Gaza

Updated 17 May 2025
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Germany ‘deeply concerned’ about situation in Gaza

  • A broad military offensive also risks worsening further the catastrophic humanitarian situation for Gaza’s population and the remaining hostages

BERLIN: Germany is “deeply concerned” about the situation in Gaza, where it said an intensified Israeli offensive could endanger the lives of hostages, including Germans, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The offensive “could put the lives of the remaining hostages, including those of German hostages, in danger,” said a ministry statement.

“A broad military offensive also risks worsening further the catastrophic humanitarian situation for Gaza’s population and the remaining hostages,” it added.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier urged Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza, saying that Palestinian civilians must no longer pay the price of war.

“We have to tell the Israeli government ‘that’s enough’,” Tajani said in a statement.

“We no longer want to see the Palestinian population suffer. Stop the attacks, let’s secure a ceasefire, free the hostages, but leave in peace a people who are victims of Hamas,” he added.

The comments reflect growing international disquiet over Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza.

Israel’s military campaign has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, pushing nearly all its 2 million inhabitants from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

Tajani was due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Rome.

The Italian government has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters within Europe, but unease is building over the devastation being wrought on Gaza.

Also on Saturday, a senior Hamas official said a new round of indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza started in Doha “without any preconditions.” 

“This round of negotiations began without any preconditions from either side, and the negotiations are open to discussing all issues,” said senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu.

“Hamas will present its viewpoint on all issues, especially ending the war, (Israel’s) withdrawal and prisoner exchange.”

Prior rounds of negotiations have failed to secure a breakthrough on ending the war, and a two-month ceasefire between the sides fell apart when Israel resumed its operations in Gaza on March 18.