BMGF – Gates Foundation Watch [to 8 November 2014]
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases

:: Gates Foundation Commits More than $500 Million to Tackle The Burden of Infectious Disease in Developing Countries
[Excerpt]
NEW ORLEANS (November 2, 2014) – Calling the Ebola epidemic a “critical moment in the history of global health,” Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, today urged greater investment in scientific innovation to ensure that the world stays ahead of rapidly evolving disease threats such as drug-resistant malaria and dengue fever.
Addressing the 63rd annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Gates announced that the foundation is committing more than $500 million in 2014 to reduce the burden of malaria, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, and an array of parasitic infections that are leading causes of death and disability in developing countries. Gates also announced that the foundation has boosted its annual funding for malaria by 30 percent, and he laid out a vision for how malaria can be eradicated by the middle of the 21st century.
Gates said important lessons from the Ebola epidemic must guide the world’s response to all infectious diseases, particularly the need to strengthen health systems in developing countries, improve infectious disease surveillance systems and sustain investments in the R&D pipeline.
“The Ebola epidemic has shown, once again, that in today’s interconnected world, health challenges anywhere create health challenges everywhere – and the best way to overcome those challenges is to dedicate ourselves to the great cause of reducing the global burden of infectious disease,” Gates said in his prepared remarks.
On September 10, the foundation announced a $50 million commitment to support the scale up of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This funding – which is in addition to the more than $500 million announced today – will support emergency response efforts for Ebola, including capacity building and the establishment of Emergency Operations Centers in affected countries. The foundation is also supporting research on Ebola interventions, including rapid diagnostics, vaccines and ZMapp, an experimental Ebola treatment.

:: GAIA Vaccine Foundation’s Story-Telling Cloth gets “Innovation” Award For West African-Style “Social Media” Cervical Cancer Prevention Campaign
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $100,000 to GAIA Vaccine Foundation to test whether dissemination of a printed cloth that tells the story of HPV and cervical cancer, coupled with a media campaign led by influential women musicians, will improve HPV knowledge and incite women to be screened for cervical cancer and (when vaccine is available) to vaccinate their daughters against HPV in West Africa.. Cervical cancer is one of the most common and lethal cancers (67% mortality) among women in Africa, with rates that are approximately 5 fold higher than in the US. Nine out of ten (87%) cervical cancer deaths occur in less developed regions of the world, like Mali. This exceptionally high rate of cervical cancer is almost entirely due to lack of knowledge about HPV, since at least in Mali, cervical cancer screens are free and available at every health center.
Gates Foundation is funding the innovative idea that story-telling ‘Pagnes’, a traditional cloth worn by most women in West Africa, can motivate women to be screened for cancer while making use of fashion to disseminate cervical cancer education…