On Dec. 3, 2023, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that global donors at COP28 had pledged a collective US $777.2 million to help control, eliminate, and eradicate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), in a landmark push to accelerate progress towards achieving the goals outlined in the World Health Organizationﾒs 2030 roadmap on NTDs.

Reaching the Last Mile with the Gates Foundation and global partners to announced a milestone expansion of the Reaching the Last Mile Fund (RLMF) from $100M to $500M. The expansion increased the reach of the fund from seven countries to 39 across Africa and Yemen, with the audacious goal of eliminating two NTDs, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis (river blindness), from the continent of Africa.