(CNN)Fifteen years ago, the two of us made a bet.
We
started our foundation in 2000 with the idea that by backing innovative
work in health and education, we could help billions of people improve
their lives. The progress we've seen so far is so exciting that we are
doubling down on the bet we made 15 years ago.
Here's
our bet: The lives of people in poor countries will improve faster in
the next 15 years than at any other time in history. We're putting our
credibility, time and money behind this bet because we think there has
never been a better time to accelerate progress and have a big impact
around the world.
Here are four big breakthroughs we see coming by 2030:
First, child deaths will go down by half. In 1990, one in 10 children in the world died before age 5. Today, it's one in 20.
By 2030, it will be one in 40. Almost all countries will include
vaccines for diarrhea and pneumonia, two of the biggest killers of
children, in their immunization programs. Better sanitation will cut the
spread of disease dramatically. And we're learning how to help more
mothers adopt practices such as proper breastfeeding and skin-to-skin
contact with their babies that prevent newborns from dying in the first
month after they're born.
Courtesy Gates Foundation
Second, Africa will be able to feed itself. Today, the continent has to rely on imports and food aid to feed its people, even though seven out of 10 people in sub-Saharan Africa are farmers. Part of the problem is that African farmers get just a fraction of the yields that American farmers get.
In
the next 15 years, however, innovations in farming will erase these
brutal ironies. With better fertilizer and hardier crops, African
farmers will be able to grow a greater variety of food and sell their
surpluses to supplement their family's diet with vegetables, eggs, milk,
and meat.
Even as climate change makes
farmers' job more difficult, we can get them enough innovation and
information to increase productivity by 50% for the continent overall.
Countries like Ghana are also building better roads and adopting
policies that make it easier to move food to the places where it's most
needed. In 15 years, Africa will still import food when it makes sense
to do so, but it will also export much more, eventually achieving a net
positive trade balance.
Third, mobile banking will help the poor radically transform their lives.
Today, some 2.5 billion people don't have access to cheap and easy
financial services -- a problem that makes it much more difficult to be
poor. If your savings is in the form of jewelry or livestock, for
example, you can't very well chip off tiny pieces to cover routine daily
expenses.
But
in the next 15 years, digital banking will give the poor more control
over their assets. The key will be mobile phones. Already, in developing
countries with the right regulatory framework -- such as Bangladesh --
people are using their phones to store money digitally and make
purchases. By 2030, 8% of the adults without bank accounts today will be
doing the same.
And by then, mobile
money providers will be offering the full range of financial services,
from interest-bearing savings accounts to credit to insurance.
Fourth,
as high-speed cell networks grow and smartphones become as cheap as
today's voice-only phones, online education will flourish.
Before a child even starts primary school, she will be able to use her
mom's smartphone to learn her numbers and letters. Software will be able
to see when she's having trouble with the material and adjust for her
pace. Of course, software will never replace teachers. But by allowing
teachers to do things like upload videos of themselves and get feedback
from their peers, it can connect them in new ways.
What
will it take to make sure life really does improve faster for the poor?
We need advances in technology and we need to deliver them to the
people who need them most. We also need to close the gender gap.
Countries where girls don't go to school or women can't open a business
will be left behind.
Another
crucial factor will be people who care about helping those in the
world's poorest places improve their lives. We're aiming to recruit
millions of new advocates -- we're calling them global citizens -- to
urge world leaders to be ambitious when they meet in September to adopt a
new set of goals that will guide the world's efforts to tackle disease,
poverty, and climate change for the next 15 years.
Beyond
2015, we hope these global citizens will hold governments and other
decision-makers accountable for meeting those goals.
You can show your support by signing up at www.globalcitizen.org, where you can learn how to get engaged and connect with other organizations working to make 2015 a historic year. We believe that informed, passionate people can work together to make the world a more equitable place. In fact, we're betting on it.
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