Billionaire Bill Gates, on Thursday, November 17, announced plans to release an HIV drug he termed to be the “next generation product”.
The drug, according to the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be capable of protecting one from HIV for 60 days and another for 6 months of protection.
He projected the drug to have peaked in Africa in the next three to four years, subsequently stopping HIV infections.
"We have a next-generation product that will be out in the next year or so which is of 60-day protection and another of 6-month protection.
"We do hope that there will be a higher uptake of that, in that it will stop HIV infection," he announced.
The drug, if taken daily, would reportedly protect one from contracting HIV, according to the tech mogul.
"We funded trials to prove that if you take the drug on a daily basis, that protects you from getting HIV, and we were hoping that everybody who is at risk of being infected would seek it.
"If you had 100 per cent compliance then you will have ended the AIDS epidemic. In fact, the uptake for that was limited, less than 20 per cent," he claimed.
Bill Gates also reaffirmed his long-term commitment to Africa and working directly with countries to create solutions in health, agriculture, gender equality, and other critical areas.
He announced plans to spend more than Ksh854 billion ($7 billion) over the next four years to support African countries and institutions working to develop and implement innovative approaches to confront hunger, disease, gender inequality, and poverty.
In his first trip to Africa since the pandemic outbreak, Gates visited primary healthcare centers, leading medical and agricultural research institutes, and smallholder farms.
The billionaire benchmarked programmes impacting the residents, obstacles, and how the foundation can better support future progress.
Speaking to more than 500 students at the University of Nairobi (UoN) - and thousands more across Africa who tuned in virtually - Bill Gates stated that Africa’s young people have the talent and opportunity to accelerate progress and solve the world’s most pressing problems.
“The big global challenges we face are persistent. But we have to remember, so are the people solving them,” Gates urged the youth to step up.
“Our foundation will continue to support solutions in health, agriculture, and other critical areas - and the systems to get them out of the labs and to the people who need them,” he revealed.
