The Gates Foundation plans the next 20 years
On December 31, 2045, the Gates Foundation will close its doors permanently, and over the next 20 years the Foundation will be committed to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world.
Over the next twenty years, the foundation will work together with its partners to make as much progress towards their vision of a more equitable world as possible. One of their goals is: The next generation grows up in a world without deadly infectious diseases, which includes malaria.
“I’m optimistic that, by the time the foundation shuts down, we can also add malaria and measles (to the list of eradication). Malaria is particularly tricky, but we’ve got lots of new tools in the pipeline, including ways of reducing mosquito populations. That is probably the key tool that, as it gets perfected and approved and rolled out, gives us a chance to eradicate malaria.”
Bill Gates in Gates Notes
In the piece, Bill Gates, who is one of Target Malaria’s main donors through the Gates Foundation, reflects on the state of global health and the hard-won progress to cut infant and maternal mortality as well as malnutrition. He also analyses the challenges caused by the international economic and health context, as well as the lack of political will to permanently tackle infectious diseases, which are the leading causes of death in the Global South.
In an interview with the New York Times, he mentions novel tools like gene drive that could cut by 90% malaria mosquitoes’ population. “The reinfection rate is slow enough that we ought to be able to clear malaria from those areas. The Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Nigeria will be the last places in the world with malaria. But that’s not a five-year goal or even a 10-year goal. That would be a high-reach goal for our 20 years to eradicate malaria in Africa.” he adds.
We are very grateful to work closely with the Foundation, and we’re excited to be considered as a key tool in the fight against malaria.
Together, with new tools and innovations, we can end malaria!
