NEW YORK, Sept. 20 (Xinhua)-- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced commitments totaling 200 million U.S. dollars to advance the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The announcement was made at the 2023 Goalkeepers events on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York City, the foundation said in a press release Wednesday.
About half of the funding will go to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership to ensure accessible and affordable contraceptives for more women in need in LMICs.
The other half will go to Unitaid, an organization saving lives by making new health products available and affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries, to help accelerate the introduction and delivery of new lifesaving solutions at equitable scale, including those for maternal and newborn health.
"Halfway to the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, our annual Goalkeepers Report shows that on 18 indicators -- from poverty to gender equality, education to food security, health to climate -- the world is off track," said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation.
"But we also see where innovation, investment, and the extraordinary work of passionate changemakers around the world have the potential to turn the tide, saving the lives of 2 million mothers and babies by 2030," he added.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals) were adopted by 193 world leaders on Sept. 25, 2015, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. They're a series of ambitious objectives and targets to achieve three extraordinary things by 2030: end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and fix climate change.
Goalkeepers is the foundation's campaign to accelerate progress towards the Global Goals. ■
