The crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war is causing a shortage of donations to African countries. To remedy the situation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged on Thursday to help Africa with seven billion over four years.

The amount is higher than the Foundation's aid in the previous four years. The aid is intended for projects to combat hunger, disease, poverty and gender inequality. Nigeria will be the biggest beneficiary as it is the most populous country on the continent.

Humanitarian groups in Africa are struggling with the detour of funds to Ukraine, and as Russia's invasion increases the prices of goods worldwide, impacting on aid operations.

"European budgets are deeply affected by the war in Ukraine and so, at the moment, the trend for aid is not going up," said Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp, in Nairobi during a visit to Kenya.

"If we take all the aid (to Africa), including all the climate aid - we will have some years when it will probably go down."

Kenya and much of East Africa is suffering its worst drought in four decades. In the region, drought, the pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict have put more than 10 million people "on the brink of a hunger crisis", according to World Vision in the USA. The United Nations expects Somalia to declare famine this year in some parts of the country.

After a meeting with Kenyan President William Ruto, Gates said on Wednesday that the Foundation would establish a regional office in Nairobi.

"Our foundation will continue to support solutions in health, agriculture, and other critical areas - and the systems to get them out of the labs and to the people who need them," Gates said

The Foundation in 2021 offered charitable support of 6.7 billion dollars and last week pledged 1.4 billion dollars to help the world's small farmers cope with climate change. (Foxnews)