Updates
 
In 2005, we reported on a range of grants we were making to help fight malaria, including one to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative to conduct clinical trials of a vaccine candidate called RTS-S.
In 2007, researchers presented new data suggesting that RTS-S offers long-lasting protection of up to four years.

If everything continues as planned, RTS-S is scheduled to enter Phase 3 trials in 2008.

 
 
In 2005, we reported on a creative financing mechanism for global health. Five European countries collaborated to form the International Financing Facility for Immunizations, which issues bonds against countries long-term foreign aid commitments to raise money for vaccine programs.
In 2007, another creative financing mechanism, this one called UNITAID, made great progress after being launched at the end of 2006.

UNITAID, which draws funds from a small airline ticket tax in France among other means, strategically intervenes in markets to drive down drug prices and reduce stock-outs.

 
 
In 2006, the Stop TB Partnership released its Global Plan to Stop TB. At the launch event, Bill Gates announced that the foundation would increase its spending by $900 million over the next decade.
In 2007, we made $280 million in TB grants.

These grants aim to spur the development of TB vaccines, to improve TB diagnostic tests, and to discover new TB treatments.

 

Global Health Overview

Year after year, millions of people in poor countries die from diseases that the world knows how to prevent or treat. The simplest solutions—such as sterile blades to cut umbilical cords—can save lives, but they aren’t delivered to all the people who need them.

In addition, the world isn’t doing enough to develop new solutions that could save even more lives. Many of the methods used to treat major killers such as malaria and tuberculosis simply don’t work very well, and researchers need to discover and develop better approaches.

By making grants and advocating for global health, we try to act as a catalyst to bring these changes about. We aim to highlight issues that don’t get the attention they deserve, to demonstrate solutions that work, and to help our partners collaborate to create and share the most effective interventions.

We focus on three strategies:

Discovery: Research to understand the scientific basis of major diseases in developing countries.

Development: Partnerships to translate scientific breakthroughs into new vaccines, drugs, and other health tools.

Delivery: Local, national, and international efforts to ensure that effective health solutions reach the people who need them most.