Britain, Bill Gates partner to spend £3b to fight malaria

Co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, and Britain have announced a partnership to spend £3 billion within the next five years to try and end deaths caused by malaria.
George Osborne, Britain’s Finance Minister, at an event with billionaire Gates, announced that Britain planned to spend £500 million ($700 million) per year for the next five years for the project.
Osborne said the spending would be funded from the country’s overseas aid budget, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also contributing around $200 million per year to the package.
He said: “Across the globe, over a billion people are infected with malaria and it’s a cause of both untold misery and lost economic potential.
“That is why, working with Bill Gates, I’m determined that Britain leads the world in the fight against this disease.”
According to Osborne, some of the money will be spent in Britain to advance the science being used to combat the disease.
The Gates Foundation first annual contribution will support research and development, as well as regional efforts to eliminate the disease.
In December, the World Health Organisation’s annual malaria report showed deaths falling to 438,000 in 2015, which was a dramatic reduction from 839,000 in 2000.
It also found a significant increase in the number of countries moving towards the elimination of malaria.
The report said the United Nations now wanted to cut new cases and deaths from malaria, a parasitic mosquito-borne infection, by 90 per cent before 2030.
Reuters/NAN.