Spain and the Gates Foundation strengthen their strategic alliance for Global Health and Gender Equality

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation, hosted two high-level meetings with the Gates Foundation last week at its headquarters in Madrid. The visit aimed to advance the shared agenda to address urgent global challenges such as global health, poverty, and gender gaps.

MEETING WITH BILL GATES ON GLOBAL HEALTH

The meeting hosted by the AECID brought together Bill Gates, president of the Foundation, and the ministers of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, and Health, Mónica García. The meeting resulted in the adoption of the Action Plan between the Spanish Government and the Gates Foundation, a framework for political, technical, and financial collaboration that strengthens their alliance to accelerate, over the next two decades, the end of preventable maternal and child mortality worldwide by promoting an international coalition, strengthening health financing, and comprehensively addressing key survival factors (including infectious diseases, nutrition, immunization, health systems, and access to essential goods).

The Action Plan is structured around three pillars: promoting global health to reduce preventable maternal and child mortality, strengthening development financing and innovative health financing, and mobilizing citizens to reinforce social support for these goals.

Following Bill Gates' introductory remarks, the meeting was structured around the three pillars of collaboration between Spain and the Gates Foundation. The first block focused on global health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition, and maternal and child health. The second addressed financing for development, and the third focused on citizen mobilization and engagement.

A COORDINATED EFFORT BY THE ADMINISTRATION

Prior to this, a technical meeting was held between the Gates Foundation, the AECID delegation, led by its director, Antón Leis, and representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Business. This joint participation underscores the desire to align efforts in global health and financing with sustainable development goals at the international level.

During this session, the delegations addressed three main areas of work for the 2026 roadmap:

1. Maternal and Child Health: consolidate its position as a priority in development strategies, guaranteeing access to basic services and maintaining the progress made over the last three decades, which has seen, for example, infant mortality halved, a success that is now under threat in a context of reduced investment in cooperation by some major donors.
2. Innovative Financing Mechanisms: develop new models that ensure stable resources for nutrition and immunization programs and the strengthening of public health systems in partner countries.
3. Citizen Engagement: develop strategies to involve citizens and civil society in international efforts on global health.

This working session followed up on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the AECID and the Gates Foundation in July 2025, on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development held in Seville.

FEMINIST APPROACH

In line with the Feminist Cooperation Strategy of Spanish Foreign Policy, the alliance places a cross-cutting emphasis on gender equality and the defense of sexual and reproductive rights. Both institutions agreed on the need to base solutions on scientific evidence and to strengthen the role of multilateral health institutions.