CIDRAP News: Malaria meetings garner support, shed new light on spread
“Two major malaria conferences under way this week — one in London and the other in Senegal — brought new pledges of nearly $4 billion to curb the disease and new research on factors that are driving disease levels, such as conditions in conflict zones and contaminated blood supplies…” (Schnirring, 4/18).

Fortune: Bill Gates Is Pouring Another $1 Billion Into the Fight Against Malaria
“…The Gates Foundation will invest $1 billion through 2023 to fund research and development efforts to end malaria. It also pledged an additional 50 million pounds (approximately $70.9 million) to match the British government’s 100 million pound ($142 million) commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced by Prime Minister May on Tuesday. The Gates Foundation also announced that it will support ZERO by 40, a new joint initiative of five crop protection companies to accelerate the development of innovative vector control tools to combat the spread of malaria…” (Bach, 4/18).

Reuters: Gates backs gene technologies in fight to end malaria
“…Speaking at the Malaria Forum conference in London, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist said that while gene editing raises ‘legitimate questions,’ that should not jeopardize exploration of tools such as CRISPR gene editing and so-called ‘gene drive’ technologies…” (Kelland, 4/18).

VOA News: Summit Urges Global Response to Malaria Resurgence
“…On the sidelines of this week’s London Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Gates told delegates, including several African leaders, the fight against malaria must be stepped up. ‘If we do not keep innovating, we will go backwards,’ he said. ‘If we do not maintain the commitments that we are making here today, malaria would go back up and kill over a million children a year, because the drugs and the insecticides are evaded by the mosquito and the parasite’…” (Ridgwell, 4/19).