Bill Gates announces grant of health research

Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced a $200m (€184m) grant today to help identify and solve the “grand challenges in global health” that the private sector has little financial incentive to tackle.

Under the programme announced at the annual World Economic Forum, a panel of top scientists will draft a list of critical problems whose solution could lead to important advances for the developing world, such as novel ways to combat the AIDS virus or to prevent mosquitoes from transmitting malaria.