PHA-Exchange> Gates gives US$ 168 million to malaria research

[Claudio]

From: "Dieter Neuvians MD" <neuvians at mweb.co.za>
> Gates gives US$ 168 million to malaria research
>
> The foundation set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates has an-
> nounced that it will donate US $168 million to accelerate re-
> search into malaria.
>
> The money will fund three research projects that seek to develop
> new drugs to fight drug-resistant malaria, effective malaria vac-
> cines, and improved malaria prevention strategies for children.
>
> "It's time to treat Africa's malaria epidemic like the crisis it
> is," Gates said yesterday, when announcing the grants at a ma-
> laria treatment and research centre in Manhiça, Mozambique. "It
> is unacceptable that 3,000 African children die every day from a
> largely preventable and treatable disease."
>
> Gates called on world leaders to renew the global fight against
> malaria, which infects 300 to 500 million people and kills more
> than one million a year ­ 90 per cent of them in Africa.
>
> "Investment in malaria research has fallen far short of the
> need," says Jong-Wook Lee, director-general of the World Health
> Organisation. "These grants will allow many more researchers to
> aggressively pursue promising leads for malaria drugs and vac-
> cines, and quickly move research from the lab to the field."
>
> Current spending on malaria control is estimated at US$ 200 mil-
> lion a year. It is estimated that US$ 1.5 million to US$ 2.5 bil-
> lion would be needed to effectively control the disease.
>
> The new grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation include
> US$ 28 million for research on how existing malaria drugs could
> decrease severe illness from malaria in infants; US$ 40 million
> to help the Medicines for Malaria Venture ­ a public-private
> partnership based in Switzerland ­ develop new drugs; and US$ 100
> million towards vaccine research by the US-based Malaria Vaccine
> Initiative.
>