Bill Gates warns White House he can't fill shortfalls in US global health funding

Gates, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder turned global health philanthropist, met with the National Security Council as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers in recent weeks to press that case, the sources said.

Soon after his January 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump moved to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, cutting more than 80% of contracts and freezing billions of dollars for everything from emergency food assistance to malaria prevention.

The Trump administration, led by the State Department, is reviewing what kinds of foreign aid will remain under its «America First» policy, with a list of around 30 global health projects for consideration, one of the sources said.

«Bill was recently in Washington D.C. meeting with decision makers to discuss the life-saving impact of U.S. international assistance and the need for a strategic plan to protect the world's most vulnerable while safeguarding America's health and security,» said a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation, his charitable organization.

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Gates told the officials he met with that his foundation cannot replace the role of the U.S. government, the sources said. Gates Foundation directors have also said publicly that no foundation has that capability.

At the same time, many Gates Foundation top priorities like eradicating polio and fighting malaria will be hit by the U.S. pullback. In such cases, the Foundation would need to decide if and how it can keep those programs on track, one source close to the organization said.

Gates' discussions focused on organizations such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, among others. They are on the shortlist