Bill Gates has pledged to donate $200bn through the Gates Foundation by 2045, after which the foundation will close. The funds will focus on disease eradication, maternal and child health, and poverty reduction, with an annual budget of $10bn, Financial Times reported.

Gates made the announcement amid major US foreign aid cuts led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which is set to slash nearly 80 percent of USAID programs. Gates accused Musk of contributing to preventable deaths in poor countries.

“The image of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times. He warned that the cuts could reverse decades of progress in global health.

He emphasized that philanthropy cannot replace government help, but he hoped that public priorities would change back to saving lives.