Bill Gates, UK Join Forces to Fight Malaria

Bill Gates, together with British Chancellor George Osborne, launched Ross Fund on Nov. 2015 for their advoicay to stop the spread of malaria. In fact, the U.K. government and Microsoft founder donated £3 billion or $4.3 billion for the full eradication of the mosquito-borne disease.

The 44-year-old British Conservative Party politician committed to give £500 million or $713 million per year until 2020 to fund the research on how to fight the deadly illness. The 60-year-old business magnate, on the other hand, promised to pledge £185 million or $200 million annually, according to Newsweek.

"We are optimistic that in our lifetimes we can eradicate malaria and other deadly tropical diseases, and confront emerging threats, making the world a safer place for all," Gates and Osborne said. The Ross Fund was named after the British scientist Sir Ronald Ross, who in fact, won the Nobel Prize in 1902 for confirming that malaria is spread by infected female mosquitoes.

"Across the globe over a billion people are infected with malaria and it's a cause of both untold misery and lost economic potential," the Member of Parliament for Tatton said in a statement. "That's why, working with Bill Gates, I'm determined that Britain leads the world in the fight against this disease."

Moreover, World Health Organization's yearly report noted that death toll from malaria drastically decreased from 839,000 in 2000 to 438,000 in 2015, Reuters reported. Fortunately, the public health agency is now seeing that a lot of countries are on their way of effectively eliminating malaria. 

United Nations, on the other hand, is now eyeing to minimize the cases and deaths of malaria by 90 percent before 2030. Meanwhile, the stop of the said sickness has been the main focus of Gates for a long time now as he released a report, together with U.N., on Sept. 2015 of their plans to completely destroy the disease.