Gates gives $168M for research into malaria vax

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting up $168 million to fund research into a new generation of malaria vaccines. The initiative is one of a broad range of new efforts around the globe aimed at eradicating malaria by 2015.

At a recent summit at the UN, donors committed $3 billion to the war against malaria. The World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria is putting up the lion's share of that money, with the British government and the Gates Foundation providing the rest. The donors believe that their efforts can save more than 4 million lives over the next seven years.

"We need innovation, new drugs, and the most dramatic thing we need is vaccine," says Gates.

The Gates foundation has donated nearly $1.5 billion to malaria research over the past 8 years. The organization came under scrutiny back in February when WHO malaria chief, Dr. Arata Kochi accused the Foundation of creating funding practices among their network of top malaria scientists that caused scientists' research to be linked to those of others in the group, making it difficult for scientists to objectively evaluate each other's work. The Foundation denied that claim.

- check out the Gates Foundation release
- read the article from the BBC

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