Why Bill Gates accused Elon Musk of "killing world's poorest children"

Ever since world's richest man Elon Musk has joined hand with the Donald Trump administration, he has been facing backlash. More recently, tech billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates criticised Musk for being involved in the killing of some of the world's poorest children. But why so?


Speaking in context of Elon Musk's recent cuts to the US Agency for International Development, which is responsible for distributing foreign aid in the world, Gates said that by doing so Musk is risking a resurgence of many deadly diseases like measles, HIV and polio. "The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one... I'd love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money," Gates told the Financial Times in an interview.


Gates also warned of a stark reversal to decades of progress in reducing mortality over the next four to six years due to the funding cuts by governments worldwide, in an interview with Reuters. "The number of deaths will start going up for the first time ... it's going to be millions more deaths because of the resources," Gates told Reuters.


On the contrary, Gates announced that he will be donating 99% of his wealth in the next 20 years, and that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will cease its operations by 2045. Talking about his decision, he wrote in his blog post, "People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that 'he died rich' will not be one of them... There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned."


For the unversed, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000, is one of the world’s largest private philanthropic organizations. Founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife Melinda French Gates, the foundation focuses on global health, education, and poverty alleviation. It has committed billions of dollars to initiatives like eradicating polio, improving public health systems, supporting education reform, and expanding access to clean water and sanitation. The foundation works in partnership with governments and organizations worldwide to address systemic challenges. Known for its data-driven approach, it plays a pivotal role in tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems.


Gates and Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, once agreed over the role of the wealthy in giving away money to help others, but have since clashed several times.


Asked if he had appealed to Musk recently to change course, Gates said it was now up to Congress to decide on the future for U.S. aid spending.

How much wealth will Bill Gates' children inherit

Bill Gates has three children with his former wife Melinda French Gates. The Gates kids-Jennifer Gates Nassar, Rory Gates, and Phoebe Gates- have all carved a niched for themselves in different fields, away from the shadows of their famous parents. However, Bill Gates has been quite vocal that his children won't inherit a majority of his wealth.


"Well, I think everybody gets to decide on that. In my case, my kids got a great upbringing, education, but less than 1% of the total wealth because I decided it wouldn’t be a favour to them. It’s not a dynasty. I’m not asking them to run Microsoft. I want to give them a chance to have their own earnings and success, be significant and not overshadowed by the incredible luck and good fortune I had," Gates told Raj Shamani in an interview.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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