Investing for Humanity Welcome Address

Your excellencies, honored guest and friend, on behalf of Muhammad Zai Foundation for humanity, I'm honored to join you here today. As a foundation, the focus of today conversation goes to the heart of our mission. how innovation, investment and purpose can unlock the progress not only for market but more importantly for people and there is no better audience for this kind of discussion than the one sitting in front of me today. In recent decades, the world has made a remarkable gains when it comes to global development and especially in health. In the last 25 years, the number of children dying before the age of five has been cut to half.

The maternal death dropped by 40%. Immunization has saved million of children and brought polio to the edge of eradication. Across countries, this progress has gone hand inhand with economic growth. It is a reminder that the health is not a product product of development but actually the foundation for it. And these leaves did not happen in silos.

Instead, they are the result of collaboration across government, donors and global health partners and especially and critically the private sector. Corporate innovation has accelerated immunization development, transformative diagnostic and enabled lives technologies to accelerate faster than ever. Private capital has ensured that this solution will reach the communities that need them the most. saving lives and livelihood along the way. This partnership has been and remain one of the most powerful forces that we have for progress and especially today when all these hard gains are actually at risk.

Since 2023, more than $60 billion has been cut from global development fund. countries and many countries are spending now more in debt than they are spending in health and educations and the consequences are becoming visible. As you will hear from our panel today, for the first time in this century, the number of children dying before the age of five is is projected to rise. And this is not because we are lacking the solution, but actually we are failing to reach the communities that need the most in a timely manner. This is the urgency.

But also this is not the whole story. As you will hear today, we have also an extraordinary opportunity. More than any time in human history, we understand what really work for glob in in order to advance in global health. We have a science that are more advanced than ever before. And we have a real world evidence that partnership when done right, it really change lives around the world.

countries and partners are proving every day how collaborative innovations and funding can deliver an immense impact. The beginning fund which was launched in Abu Dhabi with our partners earlier this year is just one example. The fund is dedicated to work with African countries in order to improve the survival rate of mother and newborn. It does that by bringing the health workforce and also an proven lives and proven low solution low cost solution to the communities that need them the most. At 2030 were targeting to save more than 300,000 women and to reach 32 34 million child and mother in a timely and quality care.

Today also you will hear from philanthropists and leaders who are demonstrating what is possible when we work together. When we do bring together to the table innovation, partnership and determination. You will hear how countries are working in the strengthening their healthare system and how cross sector collaboration are sparking the new breakthroughs and how initiatives like the global fight to end polio are setting the stage for one of the greatest achievement in in humanity when it comes to public health. In close, I would like to ask you something for I would like to ask something from you all. As we begin this discussion, I want you to see yourself not as an observer but an actual participant in this work to consider how your expertise, your investment and your creativity can unlock possibilities.

We have an opportunity in this room and at this moment to help ensure that global progress will not stop but actually will accelerate and I hope that we will choose it. Thank you.