advanced search

<< Back To Home

CSU 11/2008: GATES FOUNDATION ON MALARIA ERADICATION

Friday, 14th of March 2008

 CSU 11/2008: GATES FOUNDATION ON MALARIA  ERADICATION
 
 The phrase 'malaria eradication' came into use in 1955, when WHO's
 governing body called for a time limited global effort to stop transmission
 in all countries. That effort failed, and in 1969 the same governing body
 passed a resolution saying that primary health care was indispensable to
 malaria eradication.
 
 Since the launch of the Roll Back Malaria initiative, the scientific
 community has proposed multiple interventions against malaria: IPTi, IPTp,
 long life bednets, and experimental malaria vaccines, as well as indoor
 residual spraying. So the following note from the Bill and Melinda Gates
 Foundation will come as no surprise.
 
 Different interventions are at different stages. Residual spraying
 started in Sardinia in the 1940s. Experimental malaria vaccines are not yet
 prequalified by WHO nor available for general use. IPTi has not yet
 received approval by the World Health Organization. Once IPTi is approved,
 one should monitor the droput rates for DPT, which, on a small scale in
 Mali, fell to 7 percent, against 26 percent without IPTi (EPI presentation,
 Peter Salama, Global Immunization Meeting, Geneva, 5 February 2008). Here,
 as elsewhere, multiple interventions appear to be synergistic, not
 competitive.
 
 Is it possible accurately to model the impact of multiple
 interventions on vector borne diseases, where vector density and vector
 efficiency are so variable? If not, we shall simply have to monitor the
 effect of multiple interventions in the field to see whether they reduce
 transmission, or interrupt it.
 
 Good reading,
 
 Bob
 
 October 17, 2007
 
 
 
 
 
 Bill and Melinda Gates Call for New Global Commitment to Chart a Course
 for Malaria Eradication
 
  
 New resources and scientific progress help pave the way toward malaria
 eradication
 
 
 U.S. presidential candidates urged to sustain and expand President's
 Malaria Initiative
 
 
 
 SEATTLE -- Bill and Melinda Gates today called on global leaders to
 embrace "an audacious goal—to reach a day when no human being has
 malaria, and no mosquito on earth is carrying it." They delivered the
 call to action at a forum of 300 leading malaria scientists and
 policymakers from around the world.
 
  "Advances in science and medicine, promising research, and the rising
 concern of people around the world represent an historic opportunity not
 just to treat malaria or to control it—but to chart a long-term course
 to eradicate it," said Melinda Gates.
 
  Every year, malaria kills more than one million people, most of them
 children. A malaria eradication campaign in the 1950s and 1960s
 collapsed because of declining donor funding and growing resistance to
 drugs and pesticides. Malaria programs since then have focused on
 reducing, not ending, the burden of malaria.
 
  "We have a real chance to build the partnerships, generate the political
 will, and develop the scientific breakthroughs we need to end this
 disease," said Bill Gates. "We will not stop working until malaria is
 eradicated."
 
 
 New Malaria Partnerships, Resources Achieving Large-Scale Success
 
 
 Bill Gates noted that "a rush of new actors"—such as the Global Fund to
 Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; the World Bank's Malaria Booster
 Program; and the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative—are bringing new
 energy and resources to the global effort to control malaria. Together,
 these initiatives have committed $3.6 billion to malaria control, and
 will reach more than 70 countries.
 
  Gates also commended African countries that have undertaken aggressive,
 comprehensive malaria control programs. In particular, he praised
 Zambia's malaria program as an "inspiring example of a
 nationally-coordinated effort."
 
  A new UNICEF report released at the forum documents the impressive
 progress of recent malaria control efforts. For example, the report
 shows that:
 
 · The annual supply of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria
 has more than doubled in recent years, from 30 million nets in 2004 to
 63 million nets in 2006.
 · Global procurement of artemisinin combination therapies, the most
 effective treatment for malaria, grew from 3 million doses in 2003 to
 100 million in 2006.
 
 To help build on this progress, Mr. and Mrs. Gates called on U.S.
 presidential candidates to commit to supporting the President's Malaria
 Initiative, a $1.2 billion effort launched by President Bush in 2005.
 Mr. Gates said, "If you win this office, you will inherit a record
 commitment to fighting malaria. The world needs you to sustain it and
 enhance it. Malaria will never be eradicated without the full support of
 the President of the United States."
 
 
 Research Progress on New Vaccines, Drugs, and Insecticides
 
  Mr. Gates cited the "extraordinary breadth of research underway in
 medicines, vaccines, and other control tools" as another reason for new
 optimism in the malaria fight. Examples of recent scientific progress by
 Gates Foundation grantees include the following:
 
 · Vaccines: New study results from the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative,
 published today by The Lancet, show that the experimental malaria
 vaccine RTS,S is safe and may significantly reduce risk of malaria
 infection in infants. In the study of 200 infants, the vaccine reduced
 new infections by 65% over three-and-a-half months. A large-scale Phase
 III trial of the vaccine will begin next year in 10 African trial sites.
 · Medicines: The Medicines for Malaria Venture, which is researching
 treatments to overcome resistance to existing drugs, has developed the
 largest malaria drug portfolio in history, and expects regulatory
 approval next year for an improved treatment for children.
 · Mosquito control: The Innovative Vector Control Consortium is
 developing new and improved insecticides to control the mosquitoes that
 transmit malaria.
 
 New vaccines, medicines, and insecticides will help "break the cycle of
 transmission and eradicate the disease," said Mrs. Gates. "Both private
 industry and public research institutions must continue to invest in new
 tools in order to make malaria eradication possible."
 
  Mr. and Mrs. Gates delivered the remarks at a meeting comprised of
 malaria researchers, global health leaders, policy experts, and
 government officials from around the world, taking place October 16-18
 at the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle.
   
 ###
  
 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  
 Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda
 Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive
 lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health
 and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme
 poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all
 people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the
 opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle,
 the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H.
 Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren
 Buffett.