By Mary Hearty
Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is in Kenya for a three-day visit to engage with different stakeholders including national and local leaders, partners, and grantees; regional scientists and innovators.
He is also expected to announce the foundation’s forward-looking commitment to supporting new innovations and ingenuity aimed at improving health, food security, and gender equality in African countries.
Gates and other foundation leaders will visit and learn from farmers who are using digital tools to help with climate adaptation.
They will also see how primary healthcare clinics have delivered care during the pandemic and helped address ongoing threats like HIV, TB, and malaria.
Additionally, the team led by Gates will learn more about how leaders are charting a path forward, despite the challenging economic conditions, with investments in youth, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
In Kenya, the foundation supports tools and technologies in agriculture, health, immunization, nutrition, sanitation, financial services, gender equality and more. Partners in Kenya include Maisha Meds, which uses technology to improve patient access to quality and affordable care, Kidogo, which offers childcare for Nairobi’s low-income families, and the Kenya Agricultural Research and Livestock Organization (KALRO), which helps farmers with climate adaptation.
Gates will also participate in a conversation with university students, to learn and share perspectives on how innovative tools and approaches can bolster efforts to increase food security and support climate adaptation across Africa. The moderated town hall event, Innovating for Food Security & Climate Change in Africa, will be co-hosted by Africa.com and the University of Nairobi and takes place from 6:00-7:00PM EAT (Nairobi) on Thursday, November 17.
You can register here to virtually attend.
