FALSE: Namibia’s president did not issue a statement rejecting Bill Gates’ proposal for an eight-year IUD trial
This Instagram post claiming that Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has rejected a proposal from the Gates Foundation to conduct trials of a long-term contraceptive in the country is FALSE.
According to the post, which has a photo of Nandi-Ndaitwah and Bill Gates, the supposed trial is of a hormonal intrauterine device designed to prevent pregnancy for up to eight years.
Similar posts, which appear here and here, claim that the Namibian head of state, in a supposed official statement, disputed any ‘attempt to suppress the growth of human potential in Namibia’.
The posts seemingly began circulating following a 4 August 2025 announcement by the Gates Foundation of a $2.5 billion commitment for research and development focused exclusively on women’s health.
According to the organisation, the funding is meant to advance innovation in five key areas: obstetric care and maternal immunisation, maternal health and nutrition, gynecological and menstrual health, contraceptive innovation, and STI diagnosis and treatment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Notably, the Gates Foundation’s 4 August announcement states that areas of breakthrough potential include research into non-hormonal contraception.
An initial keyword search brings up other posts of Nandi-Ndaitwah’s supposed statement shared across different social media platforms and news sites. Interestingly, the posts do not mention when and where the head of state issued the supposed statement despite assertions that it is an official statement.
A follow-up review of the Namibian Presidency’s social media platforms, where the head of state’s activities and statements are typically shared, established that the president’s office stamped a screengrab of one of the posts as fake.
PesaCheck also reviewed several Namibian digital publications and did not find a record of the statement in the post under scrutiny.
Notably, there are currently long-term hormonal IUDs that can prevent pregnancy for up to eight years.
PesaCheck also contacted the Gates Foundation regarding the viral claim, which the organisation gave a clarification on, referencing the post by the Namibian presidency.
“On 4 August 2025, the Gates Foundation announced a $2.5 billion commitment to advance a broad range of women’s health R&D by 2030. A fabricated quote, falsely attributed to Namibia’s President, Her Excellency Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has circulated online. The Namibian Presidency has independently responded to recent social media speculation, dismissing the claims as unfounded.
The Foundation is not undertaking any H-IUD work in Namibia. At the same time, it’s important to note that hormonal intrauterine devices (H-IUDs) are not new. They have been safely used for decades across high-income countries to provide 5–8 years of pregnancy prevention and can also treat heavy menstrual bleeding. While the Foundation is not actively working on H-IUD in Namibia, we do work with partners to expand access to trusted, voluntary options like H-IUDs in other countries. More information about H-IUDs here,” wrote a representative of the Gates Foundation via email.
PesaCheck has looked into an Instagram post claiming that Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has rejected a proposal from the Gates Foundation to conduct trials of a long-term contraceptive in the country and found it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Harriet Ogayo and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Mary Mutisya and chief copy editor Stephen Ndegwa.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.