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Bill Gates on Thursday accused DOGE czar Elon Musk of “killing the world’s poorest children” by pushing to dismantle the US foreign aid infrastructure.
The Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist told the Financial Times that Musk’s support for eliminating funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was based on ignorance and had real-world consequences.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” he said.
Gates specifically pointed to Musk’s role in cutting funding to a hospital in Mozambique that helps prevent mothers with HIV from transmitting the virus to their babies.
The program was defunded under the mistaken belief — reportedly spread within Musk’s orbit — that the US was supplying condoms to Hamas in Gaza.
“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 said.
In February, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effectively shut down USAID, declaring that it was “time for it to die.”
According to Gates, the cuts have already led to life-saving vaccines and medications being left to expire in warehouses and are increasing the risk of outbreaks of diseases such as HIV, measles and polio.
The criticism came as Gates unveiled a plan to accelerate the Gates Foundation’s work over the next two decades, pledging to spend the bulk of his fortune before shutting down the organization by 2045.
He expects the foundation to allocate over $200 billion during that time, doubling what it spent in its first 25 years.
“It gives us clarity,” he said. “We’ll have a lot more money because we’re spending down over the 20 years, as opposed to making an effort to be a perpetual foundation.”
Gates said the urgency of the plan was partly driven by Musk’s role in gutting US development aid.
Musk, who called USAID “a criminal organization,” had “no understanding of what the US agency did or how it operated,” Gates said.
The two tech titans have clashed for years over the role of philanthropy.
Although Musk signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, he later told Gates that charitable giving was “bulls–t” and insisted that commercial ventures like Tesla offered more effective solutions to global problems.
Their relationship soured further in 2022 after Gates shorted Tesla stock.
Musk retaliated by posting a mocking photo of Gates on Twitter (now X) with the caption: “In case u need to lose a boner fast.”
Gates has taken a more cautious tone with President Donald Trump with the hope that some funding could be restored.
Nonetheless, he warned that Trump’s return could threaten the Gates Foundation’s tax-exempt status and criticized his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
“Kennedy had attacked vaccines, and specifically my role… with a lot of falsehoods,” Gates said.
The Post has sought comment from Musk and Kennedy.
English (US)