Bill Gates meets Indonesian leader to discuss health and sustainable development initiatives

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Bill Gates was in Indonesia on Wednesday to discuss health and sustainable development initiatives with the leader of the world's fourth most populous country.

Gates met President Prabowo Subianto at the colonial-style Merdeka palace in Jakarta to discuss global health, nutrition, financial inclusion and public digital infrastructure, Indonesia's presidential office said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

The co-founder of Microsoft and Gates Foundation praised Indonesia's adoption of vaccines like Rotavirus for diarrhea and Pneumococcus for pneumonia and the country's efforts in reducing child mortality.

He said ten million children under the age of five worldwide died when his foundation launched in 2000, with 90% of the deaths due to diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria. That number has now been cut in half to below five million, Gates said.

''It's been an amazing time period. And there's many new tools coming,'' he told the meeting, which was also attended by prominent Indonesian businesspeople and philanthropists.

Gates' foundation is currently developing a tuberculosis vaccine that's planned to be tested in Indonesia, Subianto said.

''This is crucial because TB is still a deadly disease in the country,'' he said.

Gates said that because rich countries don't have tuberculosis, ''it just doesn't get hardly any money for diagnostics or drugs or vaccines.''

Gates has granted more than $159 million to Indonesia since 2009. Much of it was allocated to the health sector, especially for vaccine procurement, Subianto said. Thanks to the funds, Subianto said Biofarma, a state-run pharmaceutical company, now can produce two billion doses of its polio vaccine every year, benefiting more than 900 million people in 42 countries.

The Gates Foundation is also planning to roll out a micronutrient supplement for pregnant women in Indonesia in coming months.

Subianto said that Gates will receive Indonesia's highest honor in New York during the U.N. General Assembly in September for his services to the country.

During his first in-person visit to the Indonesian capital, Gates is also scheduled to visit a primary school in eastern Jakarta where more than 500 students were taking part of the program.

The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that one in 12 Indonesian children younger than 5 suffers from low weight, while one in five is shorter than normal. Both conditions are caused by malnourishment.

Indonesia launched an ambitious project this year to fight malnutrition that aims to feed nearly 90 million children and pregnant women. The program is expected to cost 450 trillion rupiah ($28 billion) through 2029.

Critics question whether it is affordable. Investors and analysts have questioned the burden on state finances and the economy, and the project's ties with the interests of industrial lobby groups.