GATES FOUNDATION GIVES $68.2 MILLION FOR TROPICAL DISEASES

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced several grants totaling $68.2 million to help accelerate research on neglected tropical diseases that are transmitted by parasites and worms and affect hundreds of millions of people every year in Africa.

The funding includes:$32 million for the Infectious Disease Research Institute to develop a new therapeutic vaccine to safely and affordably treat leishmaniasis, a debilitating and often fatal parasitic disease that affects more than 12 million people. The grant supports a six-year program to develop the vaccine and conduct clinical trials in Sudan and other countries where the disease leishmaniasis is common.$13.8 million for the Sabin Vaccine Institute to develop a vaccine to prevent hookworm, which affects more than 600 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of anemia and malnutrition among children and women of reproductive age in many developing countries.$21.3 million for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop effective, inexpensive drugs to treat the late stages of leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis. Trypanosomiasis, or "sleeping sickness," kills 300,000 people every year in sub-Saharan Africa. The university will lead a consortium of researchers from the U.S., Europe and Kenya.

No vaccines currently exist to prevent most of these diseases, and the few treatments that are available can be expensive, have serious side effects and are becoming less effective due to growing resistance.