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Gates Foundation Awards $436 Million in Health Grants; Funds to Advance Research to Aid Poor Countries

Posted on: Thursday, 30 June 2005, 18:01 CDT

SEATTLE Two years ago, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation posed a series of questions to scientists around the world: How can we improve public health in developing countries? Can we develop vaccines that don't require refrigeration or needles? Are there better ways to prevent insects from spreading malaria and other diseases?

The scientists answered by proposing more than 1,500 research projects. The Gates Foundation announced Monday that it is funding 43 of the proposals with grants totaling $436.6 million. That will pay for research ranging from finding AIDS vaccines to boosting the nutritional content of bananas.

"It's shocking how little research is directed toward the diseases of the world's poorest countries," Microsoft Corp. co- founder Bill Gates said in a news release. "By harnessing the world's capacity for scientific innovation, I believe we can transform health in the developing world and save millions of lives."

The funding will help researchers prove the feasibility of a number of potentially brilliant ideas. Among them:

* A team headed by Abraham L. Sonenshein, of the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, will receive $5 million to try to create childhood vaccines that don't need to be refrigerated. Sonenshein's plan is to encapsulate the vaccines in harmless but naturally heat resistant bacterial spores. The vaccines could be distributed in packets for people to mix with water and drink.

* An international team headed by Scott Leslie O'Neill, of the University of Queensland in Australia, will receive $6.7 million to introduce a bacterial parasite to a mosquito population in a laboratory; the parasite, which occurs naturally in other insects, should cause the mosquitos to die before they are old enough to transmit dengue fever, which infects up to 100 million people every year. The grant is one of several aimed at preventing mosquitos from transmitting disease.

* Four grants totaling $47 million are being given to researchers working to fight malnutrition by genetically altering the nutritional content of bananas, cassava, rice and sorghum. For example, bananas with greater content of vitamins A and E and iron could improve health in Uganda, where 38 percent of children under 5 are stunted due to malnourishment.

* Paul Yager of the University of Washington, whose team is receiving $15.4 million, will attempt to develop an inexpensive handheld device that can test blood for a wide range of conditions, including bacterial infections, nutritional status and HIV-related illnesses.

The Gates Foundation has committed $450 million to the program, which it calls its "Grand Challenges in Global Health" initiative. The Wellcome Trust, a British charity that funds medical research, has contributed $27.1 million, and the Canadian Institutes of Health have committed $4.5 million.

Source: Columbian

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