Ross fund sets up £1bn to fight malaria

A fund termed 'the Ross Fund' named after Sir Ronald Ross
who became Britain's first Nobel
Prize winner in 1902 for his
discovery that malaria is
transmitted by mosquitoes will be run in
partnership with US
philanthropists, Bill and Melinda
Gates to eradicate malaria totally from the surface of the earth
especially from africa.

It is estimated that a child
still dies from malaria every
minute in Africa, meaning malaria is so prevalent in Africa.

To eradicate malaria UK form a £1bn partnership
with the Microsoft founder Bill Gate and
his wife Melinda which marks a
"fundamental restructuring" of
the UK's aid budget.

Of the total:
£115m is earmarked for
research into new drugs,
diagnostics and insecticides
for malaria, TB and other
infectious diseases
A further £188m will be spent
on improving biodefences and
rapid response systems to
fast-spreading epidemics such
as Ebola.

According to
Chancellor George Osborne,
one billion people were infected
with malaria and 500,000
children die from the disease
each year.

He believed working with the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation will help to bring an end
to this global disease in our
lifetimes.
Also, Bill Gates, co-chairman of the
foundation, believed eradicating
malaria and other poverty-related
infectious diseases would be
"one of humanity's greatest
achievements".

Some of the ways to tackle malaria is using
bed nets,
drug artemisinin and spraying
homes with insecticide.