Gates' Foundation Donates Millions To Combat Epidemics In Africa.(Brief Article)

2001 JUN 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

The foundation created by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is donating $70 million to combat meningitis epidemics in Africa that have killed more than 100,000 people since the late 1980s.

The grant pays for the creation of the Meningitis Vaccine Project, an alliance of public and private groups including the World Health Organization. The project wants to develop and distribute a vaccine against one type of the disease that strikes frequently in a broad "meningitis belt" of nearly 20 African countries.

"It is a terrible and devastating disease and the epidemics are increasing both in frequency and magnitude," Patty Stonesifer, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said May 30, 2001. She said that a current vaccine exists, but it has limited effectiveness and doesn't provide long-term protection.

Bacterial meningitis, an infection of the membranes that protect the brain and spinal cord, often surfaces in Africa during annual dry seasons. Without treatment, nearly half of those infected die and, even with antibiotics, a quarter of the survivors suffer problems including brain damage, hearing loss, and paralysis. Among infected children, one in 10 dies even when treated.

An outbreak now sweeping across Africa has killed more than 3,500 people this year, according to the International Red Cross. The epidemics flare up every couple of years but the intervals have become shorter during the past two decades.

"Unlike some of our global health problems ...