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 stop 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 US$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 statement. "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 re-searchers prove the feasibility of several potentially brilliant ideas. Among them:
-- A team headed by Abraham Sonenshein, of the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, will get US$5 million to create childhood vaccines that don't need refrigeration. 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 O'Neill, of the University of Queensland in Australia, will get US$6.7 million to introduce a bacterial parasite to a mosquito population in a laboratory; the par-asite, which occurs naturally in other insects, should cause the mosquitoes to die before they are old enough to transmit dengue fever, which infects up to 100 million people every year. Mosquitoes have become resistant to some insecticides.
-- Four grants totaling US$47 million are being given to researchers fighting malnutrition by genetically altering the nutritional content of bananas, cassava, rice and sorghum. For example, bananas with more vitamin A and E and iron could improve health in Uganda, where 38 percent of children under 5 are stunted from malnourishment.
-- Paul Yager of the University of Washington, whose team is receiving US$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 US$450 million to the program, which it calls its "Grand Challenges in Global Health" initiative, and more grants are expected to be announced later. The Wellcome Trust, a British charity that funds medical research, has contributed US$27.1 million, and the Canadian Institutes of Health have committed US$4.5 million.
The grants are administered by those organizations as well as the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in the US.
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