Gates gives $20m for malaria research

The world's richest man, Bill Gates, has donated almost $20m (€13.9m) to fund research into malaria, it was announced today.

The Microsoft multi-billionaire is backing a five-year study by Dr Gerry Killeen, Dr Ulrike Fillinger and Professor Steve Lindsay from Durham University's School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences.

They joined an international consortium, led by the University of Notre Dame, which has been backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

It was set up in 2000 as a philanthropic organisation which looks to solve problems faced by the world's poorest people.

Malaria kills more than one million people every year, the majority being infants and very young children.

The research programme is studying existing control methods in urban Africa and designing better ways to deal with the disease.

It will develop a study centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to research urban malaria transmission.

Dr Gerry Killeen said: "Even though over half the population of Africa will live in towns and cities by 2030, very little is known about malaria transmission in urban Africa and control measures specific to this context remain to be proven.

"This grant will allow us to provide answers for national malaria control programmes with information on planning and implementing control measures."