Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto revealed that the Gates Foundation, the philanthropy founded by one of the world’s richest people, Bill Gates, had provided Indonesia $159 million in grants, most going to the health sector over the past years.

Prabowo is currently hosting Gates in Jakarta as the latter seeks to expand the foundation’s Southeast Asian presence. Prabowo thanked the American billionaire for his organization’s substantial financial support, including a Rp 1.3 trillion  ($78.6 million) funding to tackle the infectious disease polio. Gates has worked with the state-run pharmaceutical firm Biofarma to produce polio vaccines that are also shipped to 42 other countries.

“I told the floor that you [Gates] have assisted us directly in direct donations of more than $159 million since 2009. Most of the [money] went to health … and especially vaccines,” Prabowo said in a room full of major Indonesian philanthropies and ministers.

About $119 million from Gates’ philanthropy had gone to backing Indonesia’s health sector. Gates rolled out a total of $5 million in grants to the agriculture sector, while the same amount of funding went to technologies, according to Prabowo’s estimates. The Gates Foundation is currently funding a malaria vaccine development with the trials set to take place in Indonesia. The Southeast Asian country also hosts some of the Gates Foundation’s tuberculosis vaccine trials.

“We look forward to a breakthrough in malaria and tuberculosis [vaccines], which I think will not be too far in the future,” Prabowo said.

Prabowo intends to give the technocrat the highest civilian award to recognize his commitment to humanitarian causes not only in Indonesia but also around the world. The awarding is set to take place in September when Prabowo flies to New York for the UN General Assembly. During the high-profile talks, Gates unveiled some new plans for Indonesia, including tools to address anemia among women.

“Indonesia is very serious about malnutrition. We have a number of proven tools, such as multiple micronutrient supplements, that pregnant mothers can take. … A lot of women have anemia. … The foundation also has an approach where you can just go in one time and get an infusion for the anemia. Over the next year or two, we will come up with a plan to roll that out in Indonesia,” Gates said.

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