Nigeria, Dec. 5 -- Global health funding cuts could reverse decades of progress in child survival and lead to the deaths of millions of children, the Gates Foundation has warned.

In its 2025 Goalkeepers Report, titled "We Can't Stop at Almost," the foundation highlighted that for the first time this century, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday is projected to rise.

The report indicated that in 2024, 4.6 million children died before turning five, with the number projected to rise to 4.8 million this year.

The rise comes amid a decline in global development assistance for health, which, according to the report, fell 26.9 per cent this year, "increasing pressure on already strained and debt-burdened African health sys...