The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced long-term commitments totaling $200 million in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), as well as the recipients of its annual Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards.

The commitments, which were made based on outcomes of the recently released 2023 Goalkeepers Report (51 pages, PDF), will buttress efforts to provide greater access to family planning products and information, accelerate delivery of lifesaving health solutions, and help reduce maternal and child mortality. Awards include up to $100 million to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership to provide women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with greater access to contraceptive and family planning supplies, and $100 million to Unitaid to accelerate the introduction and delivery of new lifesaving solutions at equitable scale in LMICs, including those for maternal and newborn health.

In addition, the foundation has named the recipients of its annual Goalkeepers Global Goals Award, which recognizes leaders working to advance progress toward the UN SDGs. The awards recognized the prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, for championing universal health coverage for all, embedding the Global Goals in Japan’s development cooperation charter, and strengthening the global health architecture; the Farmlink Project for its food equity work in the United States; Ashu Martha Agbornyenty, who helped reduce high maternal mortality rates in Cameroon; and Eden Tadesse, who founded the online platform Invicta, which promotes digital financial inclusion, skills development, and access to job opportunities for urban refugees. Special recognition awards also were presented to Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter and Bono in recognition of their decades of work to advance global health and development.

“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 Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman. “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 two million mothers and babies by 2030.”

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