The world’s wealthiest person, Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda, made a brief appearance in the border town of Pailin on Saturday, where their foundation funds projects to combat drug-resistant malaria.

According to staff at the Memoria Palace & Resort, the philanthropists met with health ministry officials and employees from projects funded by their organisation at the hotel before jetting on to Siem Reap.

Gates, the founder of Microsoft, launched his foundation in 1994 and has since donated over $28 billion to projects largely dedicated to improving health and alleviating poverty.

A strain of malaria resistant to the anti-malarial drug artemisinin is most prevalent on the Cambodia-Thai border, particularly in Pailin and Battambang, according to the World Health Organization.

The Gates Foundation, a donor to the Global Fund that has distributed over four million mosquito nets in the Kingdom, could not be reached for comment.