Source: HM Treasury | | 28/01/2016
The Chancellor, together with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation have announced a new £3 billion pledge to help end Malaria deaths. The £3 billion will be made up of £500 million a year invested by the UK government over the next five years. The Gates Foundation will spend $200 million in 2016 to support R&D for malaria and to accelerate regional malaria elimination efforts, with a similar amount over each of the following four years.
Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates said:
‘Britain is a global leader in the fight against deadly diseases like malaria – a disease that still claims the life of a child every minute. From the strength of its scientific community, to the bravery of the ordinary men and women who go out to fight these diseases, the UK’s commitment to global health is building healthier futures for people living in the world’s poorest places and making the world a safer place for all of us.’
This announcement builds on the Chancellor’s announcement late last year of the creation of a new £1 billion fund to help eradicate malaria and other infectious diseases including Ebola and polio which threaten pandemics across the world. The fund known as the Ross Fund is named after Sir Ronald Ross, who became Britain’s first ever Nobel Prize winner in 1902. The Gates Foundation also announced they will partner with the UK in this work.
The government has committed to spending 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid and the Chancellor commented that the government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on international aid means Britain can continue to play its part in the fight against malaria with the aim of reducing malaria deaths by 90% by 2030 and ultimately ending this global disease.