OCgringo Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 OK....I do not like the Microsoft "evil empire", b but at least some of the profits are going for a great cause http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4385432.stm Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is donating £28m to a UK research centre as part of a £145m ($258.3m) gift to malaria research worldwide. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting three international projects over five years. One project at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine will look at ways to control the mosquitoes that spread malaria. Others will look for new malaria drugs and environmentally-safe insecticides. Mosquito nets Mr Gates said malaria was a "forgotten epidemic". "Millions of children have died from malaria because they were not protected by an insecticide-treated bed net, or did not receive effective treatment," he said. "If we expand malaria control programs, and invest what's needed in research and development, we can stop this tragedy." Children's drug Liverpool's Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC), will use its grant to develop safer, more effective, and longer-lasting insecticides for mosquito control. It will also develop improved bed nets and other insecticide-treated materials, and help health authorities determine how to deploy insecticides and bed nets for maximum impact. Another project - the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) - is conducting trials in Mozambique of GlaxoSmithKline's malaria vaccine. It said it appeared to offer partial protection for young children, cutting their risk of severe malaria by 58%. It is hoped that after further trials, which will involve more than 10,000 children and check that the vaccine is safe when given with other childhood vaccines, it can be introduced into Africa's immunisation programme by around 2011, said Dr. Melinda Moree, director of MVI. There is an urgent need for new drugs to treat malaria Dr Chris Hentschel from MMV The MVI will receive $107.6 million (£60.4m) for this work. Meanwhile, the Medicines for Malaria Venture will receive $100 million (£56.1m) to develop new malaria drugs that will be affordable and practical for use in poorer countries. Dr Chris Hentschel from MMV said: "We're developing 20 promising compounds, and six are already in clinical trials. "There is an urgent need for new drugs to treat malaria." 'More needed' He said that in Africa resistance to the commonly used drug chloroquine was as high as 80% and that newer artemisinin-based combination drugs were often in short supply and expensive. "Our goal is to develop a range of effective drugs that cost $1 or less per person treated," he said. The Malaria R&D Alliance, an international group of malaria organizations, says more funding is still needed to rapidly expand access to existing malaria control strategies such as bed nets, mosquito control, and combination drug treatment. It estimates that $3.2 billion needs to be invested each year in order to cut malaria deaths in half by 2010. Last year $323 million was invested in malaria research and development - less than one-third of 1% of total global spending on health-related research and development. A spokeswoman from The Roll Back Malaria Partnership Secretariat said the new funding from the Gates' would make a big difference. "We absolutely have to have more funds for research. As quickly as we can develop new drugs we also have drug resistance." She said funding should also be given to operational research to make sure that communities affected by malaria know how best to protect themselves against the disease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Bill Gates does donate a helluva lot to charities, up in the hundreds of millions. I've asked Thais why Thaksin doesn't do much. The reply is always, "Why should he?" Uh ... I thought Buddhists were supposed to make merit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted November 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 yeah but Gates is donating this time less than 1% of his wealth, a big number tes, but he has $30 Billion OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Good on him I reckon... he didn't have to donate anything at all.. credit where credit's due IMO, I think he changed a bit a few years ago when he realised he'd have to try pretty hard to spend all his $$$ and started giving some away. Of course it's all good publicity for him and his companies too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 While the numbers are amazing, and great - it s as ogringo says, not a huge part of his profitis.. I like the lenfest family I think it was, donated most of their income, leaving 10 million for the kids, but gave away 70% DOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lembeh Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Just to set some of the points straight, the gates foundation has an endowment from Gates of some 28 BILLION US dollars. A not insignificant amount. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/AboutUs/ The fund LOTS of work in a range of fields, the malaria one is the just the latest, for example they have funded a dengue vaccine initiative for several years. I recall reading that gates intends to give his kids 5 million each, and give the rest away..... -j- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 actually i am a big gates fan just from his giving generously to society. I believe his and his wife's fund is the single private largest endowment (most towards health issues i believe) in the world.. When one gives, i don't think people nor i do think it would be noraml to do, is for the person say outloud, i am worth this much, i will give this amount of money. We as humans just don't function this way... As to 5 mil for each kid, not sure he has thought that one out completely if factoring in future real estate and college costs... CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lembeh Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Post deleted by josh_ingu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lembeh Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 >As to 5 mil for each kid, not sure he has thought that one out completely if factoring in future real estate and college costs... *Could* have been 50 million....LOL. Either way, they were *not* going to get the 50 billion....man, would I be pissed... -j- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidflux Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Personally I could care less what percentage of his total wealth he gives away, at least he gives SOMETHING. There's a hell of a lot of other rich folks out there who don't give a dime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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