UAE President, Bill Gates discuss global epidemic diseases, COP28

Both UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates discussed via phone on Friday charitable efforts in combating global epidemic diseases like polio and ways of addressing climate change impacts, WAM reported.

To address climate change impacts, the UAE leader and Gates talked about ways of cooperation between the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as how to bring innovative and long-lasting solutions to climate change repercussions.

As for health issues, both leaders tackled how to combat “neglected tropical diseases” and epidemics like polio, in addition to how the “Reaching the Last Mile” Forum can support governments, philanthropists, and NGOs to help those most vulnerable to disease and climate change globally.

Reaching the Last Mile participated in the Abu Dhabi-hosted Forecasting Healthy Futures Global Summit in March 2023 to find preemptive solutions and funds to climate change-caused diseases ahead of COP28.

“Given the high and growing impact of climate change on the health and wellbeing of our societies, COP28 has identified health as a priority and is committed to advancing the integration of the health and climate agendas and mainstreaming health, from air pollution to communicable diseases,” said COP28 Director General Majid Al-Suwaid in his speech at the summit, according to Reaching the Last Mile.

COP28 will convene on November 30 until December 12 in Dubai, where the first Global Stocktake (GST) report will show a full-scale assessment of progress made by the countries since adopting the Paris Agreement in 2015.