NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

To tackle dangerous but curable tropical diseases in poor countries, the global health community is following the money — increasingly to the Persian Gulf.

On Wednesday, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan launched a fund with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to eliminate two persistent and debilitating neglected tropical diseases.

The $100 million fund will seek to eliminate river blindness, or onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis, which leads to a condition known as elephantiasis, from countries where they circulate in Africa and the Middle East. The Crown Prince will donate $20 million and the Gates Foundation 20% of the total amount raised to the new “Reaching the Last Mile Fund,” with a plan to raise the remaining $60 million from others in the region and beyond.

Photo courtesy of Keoni Cabral.