Just to share the information with you.  Hope you will benefit from the RBM component  :-)

 

Best regards,

 

Usa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Date: 11 Dec 2006 12:05:19 PST
Subject: Major Commitment to Global Fight Against Malaria
To: usaduongsaa@...


December 11, 2006

Major Commitment to Global Fight Against Malaria

New grants to expand malaria control, research, and advocacy efforts

At White House summit, Melinda Gates to call for stronger global
malaria response, more funding

Contact:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Phone: 206.709.3400
Email: media@...

SEATTLE -- On the eve of a major White House summit on malaria, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed $83.5 million in new grants
to combat the disease, which claims more than one million lives every
year. The grants will expand access to bednets, treatment, and other
malaria control tools; speed research on vaccines and other new
prevention methods; and boost global advocacy to fight the disease.
Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, will speak at the
White House summit on December 14.

"Every day, thousands of mothers watch helplessly as their children
die from a disease that we have known how to prevent for decades,"
Mrs. Gates said. "The continuing toll of malaria is a moral outrage-we
would not allow it here in the U.S., and we should not allow it anywhere."

"The world is finally waking up to the malaria catastrophe," Mrs.
Gates continued. "It's time to close the gap in funding, accelerate
research, and work together in a more strategic way to strengthen the
global malaria fight."

The upcoming White House malaria summit, hosted by President Bush and
First Lady Laura Bush, will convene 250 political leaders, scientists,
and advocates to discuss new opportunities to combat malaria globally
and kick off new public-private efforts to address the disease.

In her remarks, Mrs. Gates will applaud recent increases in funding to
tackle malaria through efforts like the President's Malaria
Initiative, the World Bank's Booster Program for Malaria Control, and
the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. However, she will
urge world leaders to agree on a new, coordinated global strategy to
fight malaria. The strategy would help maximize the impact of malaria
resources by tapping the individual strengths of all players in the
field, preventing duplication of effort, and filling key gaps in
global malaria control.

Mrs. Gates will also call for major new resources for malaria control
and research. According to the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, global
spending on malaria control falls far short of the $3.1 billion needed
annually. Malaria research is also severely under-funded-a recent
study by the Malaria R&D Alliance estimated that malaria research
funding in 2004 totaled just $323 million, less than 0.3% of total
health research spending worldwide.

New Grants to Expand Malaria Control, R&D Initiatives
The grants announced today include projects to expand access to
existing prevention and treatment tools, accelerate research and
development of new tools, and strengthen global malaria advocacy
efforts. The grants include:

* Malaria control: $29 million to the Malaria Control and Evaluation
Partnership in Africa (MACEPA), based at PATH, to develop a network of
five African countries committed to fighting malaria. The program will
support collaboration among developing countries, donors, and other
public and private partners to rapidly expand and evaluate the
participating countries' malaria control programs, based on lessons
learned from MACEPA's work to date in Zambia.

* Vaccine research: $29.3 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine
Initiative (MVI) for research on a promising malaria vaccine
candidate, and $3.5 million to the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular
Biotechnology to study potential antigens for use in malaria vaccines.
MVI will investigate the potential for an attenuated malaria parasite
to safely protect against malaria infection.

* Preventive treatment for infants: $2.2 million to the World Health
Organization (WHO) to develop guidelines for intermittent preventive
treatment for malaria in infants (IPTi), a new strategy to prevent
severe malaria, and $2.7 million to the Fundacio Clinic per a la
Recerca Biomedica of the University of Barcelona for research on the
acceptability and sustainability of IPTi.

* Diagnostics: $9.8 million to the Foundation for Innovative New
Diagnostics (FIND) to evaluate existing diagnostic tests for malaria,
and develop guidelines for the effective and efficient use of malaria
tests in the field.

* Roll Back Malaria Partnership: $7.1 million to the Roll Back Malaria
Partnership (RBM), based at WHO, to increase technical assistance to
malaria programs in Southern Africa, and strengthen global advocacy
activities.

Every year, 350-500 million people are infected with malaria, and more
than one million people die of the disease. Malaria kills more African
children than any other disease-more than 2,000 per day. Over the past
20 years, malaria deaths have doubled in parts of Africa, largely due
to growing resistance to the cheapest and most widely-used drugs.

Including the grants announced today, the Gates Foundation has
committed $765.8 million to fight malaria to date. The foundation has
committed an additional $650 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
TB, and Malaria, which supports national malaria control programs.

###
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org)
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation works to reduce inequities and improve lives
around the world. In developing countries, it focuses on improving
health, reducing extreme poverty, and increasing access to technology
in public libraries. In the United States, the foundation seeks to
ensure that all people have access to a great education and to
technology in public libraries. In its local region, it focuses on
improving the lives of low-income families. Based in Seattle, the
foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and Co-chairs William H.
Gates Sr., Bill Gates, and Melinda French Gates.

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