• Abu Dhabi Finance Week confirms Bill Gates as speaker for day one humanitarian finance session.
• Event will include a pledging moment to raise new commitments for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
• Global leaders, donors and the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity will convene at ADFW as part of a wider agenda expected to draw organisations managing more than USD 60 trillion in assets.

Abu Dhabi prepares for high-stakes eradication funding session

Abu Dhabi is preparing to host one of the most closely watched humanitarian finance dialogues of 2025, with Bill Gates confirmed as a speaker at a pledging session for polio eradication during Abu Dhabi Finance Week. The session, convened by the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, will take place on the opening day of the event and is expected to draw senior global donors, policymakers and heads of major philanthropic institutions.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Executive Council, the finance week is hosted by ADGM with ADQ as headline partner. The inclusion of a high-level eradication pledging moment aims to position humanitarian finance alongside sovereign wealth, private capital and investment industry deal-making, reflecting rising interest in blended development finance as a lever for global health intervention.

Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, will participate in the session titled “Investing in Humanity: Unlocking private capital for global progress.” Organisers say the conversation will centre on how innovative financing structures, global coalitions and private sector deployments can accelerate solutions to entrenched social and health challenges.

A high-profile platform for eradication funding

The session will feature a keynote address by Her Excellency Dr Shamma Khalifa Al Mazrouei, Acting Director General of the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity. She will be joined by additional senior guests and philanthropic leaders for what is expected to be one of the most publicised humanitarian-investor intersections of the year.

The session will culminate in a formal pledging moment intended to secure new financial commitments to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the public-private partnership coordinating global efforts to eliminate the disease. Eradication financing has become increasingly dependent on cross-sector capital, and the Abu Dhabi platform aims to bring together high-net-worth donors, national funders and institutions with the scale to close immunisation gaps in hard-to-reach regions.

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Policy, risk and capital relevance for global ESG leadership

For asset owners and senior ESG decision-makers attending, the inclusion of polio eradication in one of the world’s largest finance gatherings is more than symbolic. Philanthropic health interventions are emerging as a testing ground for financial structures that could later apply to climate resilience, nature repair and adaptation. Blended capital models used in eradication campaigns are now studied by development banks and private equity funds evaluating early-stage climate and public-health risk projects.

The Gates Foundation and the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity have previously emphasised partnerships as essential to meeting eradication timelines. ADFW’s organisers state that bringing donors into a shared forum with private investors and institutional finance leaders creates the conditions for scalable commitments in the lead-up to final eradication phases.

A global convening with ESG significance beyond health

This year’s Abu Dhabi Finance Week is projected to convene CEOs, chairpersons, presidents and founders representing organisations managing more than USD 60 trillion in assets. According to organisers, that figure equates to more than half of global GDP and reflects Abu Dhabi’s positioning as a nexus for sovereign capital, institutional assets and policy-aligned investment.

The polio session reflects a strategic broadening of agendas at major capital gatherings, linking conventional finance discussions to human development outcomes. For investors and sustainability leaders, the pledging moment offers a case study in how global health mobilisation interacts with capital flows, risk allocation and philanthropic policy.

As eradication efforts enter what health agencies describe as the final stretch, the funding outcomes delivered in Abu Dhabi will carry weight far beyond the event. ADFW intends to place humanitarian capital on the same stage as global finance, and the pledging session will test whether the world’s largest asset managers and philanthropic leaders can collectively accelerate one of the most ambitious public-health targets of the century.

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