Bill Gates to give $500 million for malaria, other diseases
Bill Gates donates hundreds of millions for eradication of
diseases
Bill Gates, the Founder of Microsoft turned philanthropist announced he will donate over $500 million to fight malaria and other infectious diseases in the developing world.
A philanthropist is someone who likes to advance human welfare by donations of money, property, or work for needy persons
Mr. Gates said that in addition to the pledge of donating $500 million, his foundation has boosted its annual funding for malaria by 30 percent.
Mr Gates was concerned about the Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 4,900 people in West Africa since the beginning of the year.
"The Ebola epidemic has shown, once again, that in today's interconnected world, health challenges anywhere create health challenges everywhere -- and the best way to overcome those challenges is to dedicate ourselves to the great cause of reducing the global burden of infectious disease,"
Mr Gates said.
Mr Bill Gates
The Gates Foundation had earlier announced in September a $50-million commitment to help scale up efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak.
Gates said the rise in resistance to effective malaria drugs in Southeast Asia should serve as a warning, that better research and development is needed to "stay ahead of the natural evolution of infectious diseases."
Other grants announced by Mr. Gates include $49 million to PATH Vaccine Solutions to develop new vaccines and combinations of vaccines against bacterial causes of diarrhea, and $18 million to the University of Maryland for studies in Mali, Kenya and Gambia on the impact of rotavirus vaccines on child health.
Other grants aim to help eradicate neglected infectious diseases, including $60 million toward finding treatments for a disfiguring diseases sometimes known as elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis) as well as sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), and black fever (visceral leishmaniasis).
Mr Gates said that eradicating malaria by the middle of this century is "both a necessary objective and an attainable one."
"We must remain committed to the eradication of malaria,"
Mr Gates said.
"Small steps won't get the job done. History shows that the only way to stop malaria is to end it forever."
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