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

Friday, June 10, 2016

ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – After being abandoned as too ambitious in 1969, global plans to eliminate malaria are back on the agenda, with financial backing from the world’s richest couple, Bill and Melinda Gates, and U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Gateses aim to eradicate malaria by 2040 by doubling funding over the next decade to support the roll out of new products to tackle rising drug resistance against the disease.

Their goal of permanently ending transmission of the disease between humans and mosquitoes is more ambitious than the Sustainable Development Goal of ending epidemic levels of malaria by 2030.

They are also supporting a push to create the world’s first vaccine against a parasite.