Urgent action is required if the lives of 200,000 children are to be saved, an Abu Dhabi summit featuring Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has heard.
Mr Gates was in conversation with Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Co-operation, at the Goalkeepers Abu Dhabi event, organised by the Gates Foundation and the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, at Manarat Al Saadiyat on Monday evening.
Mr Gates and Ms Al Hashimy warned that the world is at risk of reversing decades of progress in child survival – a theme echoed repeatedly throughout the evening.
Child mortality is projected to reach an estimated 4.8 million deaths by the end of the year, a rise of 200,000, the first time the number has increased this century, according to a new report by the Gates Foundation.
“This has to galvanise us,” said Ms Al Hashimy. “We can’t wait for root causes to be fixed before acting. We have to work on humanitarian, development and political tracks simultaneously.”
The humanitarian crisis facing the world was brought into sharp focus on Tuesday, with President Sheikh Mohamed directing the UAE to commit $550 million to support an appeal from the UN to provide aid to those in need.
The goal of the UN’s Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) is to raise $33 billion in 2026 to support close to 135 million people across 23 humanitarian operations worldwide, including programmes supporting refugees and migrants, the state news agency Wam reported.
midwife
Mr Gates said innovation – especially in maternal care, nutrition and AI-powered health tools – was essential to reversing the rise in child mortality.
“If I had one wish to solve one problem, it would be malnutrition,” he said. “A child in northern Nigeria is 40 times more likely to die than a child in a rich country … your brain and body don’t develop.”
He praised the UAE-backed Beginnings Fun, which mass-produces micronutrient supplements for pregnant women.
Despite the challenges, they also struck an optimistic note.
“The world has already shown what’s possible when it chooses to act,” Ms Al Hashimy said. Progress is still a choice, added Mr Gates.
The evening also shone a light on midwives working in areas where maternal and child mortality rates remain a serious problem, and show no signs of abating.
Call the midwives
On stage, Eva Nangalo from Uganda and Neha Mankani from Pakistan humanised the statistics with their stories of loss from their communities. Ms Nangalo, a midwife for 25 years, spoke about what has sustained her through some of the most painful moments imaginable.
“Most of the time, mothers come to us when they are in pain and sometimes even desperate … if you save a mother, it is a motivator for me, and it has kept me going for 25 years.” She spoke of the deep resource shortages people in her country face, and a recent tragedy that took place as a result.
“We’ve just lost a mother who needed blood, but we were out of stock out in our facility … By the time we came back, we had lost the mother.” Those memories of loss have never left her.
“I always remember the last eye contact of a mother who is dying … Sometimes they call my name when they’re dying. It’s a pain which will never heal,” she said.
Ms Mankani, the , detailed the accelerating effect of climate change on maternal and newborn health. Her clinic – a converted shop – serves three islands off Karachi.
Climate deaths
“Every summer, I see so many women come into my clinic with pregnancy loss related to excessive heat,” she said. “We’re seeing babies who are born too early or born sick because of environmental degradation or climate stressors.”
Floods routinely destroy clinics and homes. In response, her organisation launched a boat ambulance to transport pregnant women to the mainland.
Yet she still finds deep purpose in her work. “I love being a midwife … being part of this messiness of human life, of being so intertwined in these emotional journeys with people.”
She highlighted a petition to train one million more midwives worldwide and called for investment in tools, technology and support systems to empower them. “If we want those one million midwives … then that’s the support you need to give them,” she said.
Ms Nangalo agreed with her: “Reliable power supply, transportation fuel, good roads. We need all these to save the lives of mothers and babies.”
