Gates Foundation looks to fight malaria









By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press WriterWed Oct 17, 9:51 PM ET




Bill and Melinda Gates appealed to more than 300 malaria scientists
and policy makers at a forum Wednesday to take the risky step of
seeking to eradicate the disease worldwide instead of just keeping it
under control.
A goal of anything short of eradication would be unethical and a bad
business decision, despite unsuccessful efforts to stamp out the
disease in the 1950s and 1960s, Melinda Gates said.
"It's a long-term goal; it won't come soon," she said, "but to
aspire to anything less is just far too timid a goal for the age we're
in. It's a waste of the world's talent and it's a waste of the world's
intelligence, and it's wrong and unfair to the people who are suffering
from this disease."
She said the world wasn't ready for a long fight against malaria 50
years ago, and when drugs and pesticides started failing, enthusiasm
faded and funding almost disappeared. Malaria was eliminated from the
United States and other developed countries at that time.
She is co-chairwoman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
which has committed $860 million to malaria programs and another $650
million to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria.
Bill Gates promised the foundation's enthusiasm for the cause would
never lag. He said many others would contribute money and commitment as
long as those attending the organization's first malaria forum keep
showing the world they can achieve their goals.
"If you show the world that we can end this disease, you will
unleash the energy and the caring the commitment we need to meet that
goal," he said. "We're not done and we will not stop working until
malaria is eradicated."
Malaria kills more than a million people each year, most of them
children. Deaths doubled in Africa over the past 20 years as malaria
grew resistant to existing drugs and insecticides. New efforts to
control the spread of the disease and develop new medicine and vaccines
are starting to show results, according to a UNICEF report issued
Tuesday.
Millions of insecticide-treated bed nets are being distributed
throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The newest treatment for the disease is
reaching community health clinics in some countries. Four new vaccines
are being prepared for large scale testing on humans as early as 2008.
After the Gates' presentation, conference participants said
eradication should be possible as long as people and groups like the
Gates Foundation continue to provide support.
"Funding for malaria is gaining momentum. Some years back you
couldn't even get money for research. If that momentum grows over time,
and people get the money to do more work, we will transform control to
eradication," said Seth Owusu-Agyei, an epidemiologist with the
Kintampo Health Research Centre in Kintampo, Ghana.
Owusu-Agyei led a team that recently completed a successful small
trial of a new malaria vaccine for children developed by
GlaxoSmithKline. Study results were released Wednesday in a paper
published online in The Lancet.
The vaccine was found to be safe for infants and 35 percent
effective in preventing new infections over a six-month period in
infants. The same vaccine was found to be 45 percent effective among
children age one to four.
Cooperation among those fighting the disease and developing
vaccines, medications and insect control is key to achieving
eradication, said Christian Loucq, director of the Malaria Vaccine
Initiative,.
"The big risk is if you don't reach (eradication) soon, fatigue will come," Loucq said.
He and other emphasized the need for more money and coordination of
efforts. He said the $107 million cost of a single one large-scale
trial of a new vaccine, or phase three trial, shows the need for
planning by organizations and governments.
Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization,
urged scientists and policy makers not be territorial in their work or
waste time debating whether eradication is possible because, "as we are
talking here, children are dying."
The World Health Organization pledges to do whatever it can to bring about an end to malaria, Chan said.

"We have to make it work in the interest of humanity," she said. "I dare you to come along with us."

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