UK allots £1B fund for the eradication of malaria, other infectious diseases

In partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates, the UK government is setting up a new £1 billion fund to fight malaria and other infectious diseases.

The £1billion will be taken from the UK's overseas aid budget over next five years. The association with Bill and Melinda Gates will result in the restructuring of UK's aid budget.

The UK government may continue its allocation of 0.7 percent of GDP on overseas aid as it's keen to eradicate infectious diseases. 

Out of the proposed fund, about £115 million would be spent on research on new drugs, diagnostics and insecticides for malaria, TB and other infectious diseases.

Another £188 million are earmarked for improving bio-defenses and rapid response systems to fight against dangerous epidemics such as Ebola. 

According to reports from BBC, the fund has been named after Sir Ronald Ross, Britain's first Nobel Prize winner in 1902 for identifying the reason for malaria that it's caused by mosquitoes.

The death rate due to malaria is coming down, but every minute, one child is dying in Africa. According to Chancellor George Osborne, one billion people are suffering from malaria disease and 500,000 children die every year. 

Chancellor Osborne is optimistic that the partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will help in wiping out malaria and other infectious diseases permanently.

The Chancellor will set out the restructuring plan in his autumn statement.

The international development department has been receiving a rise in budget allocations since 2010. The UK government is projected to continue its allocation of 0.7 percent of GDP on overseas aid.

The UK government's Department for International Development has set a target, as part of improving children's health, to save 250,000 newborn babies' lives by 2015.  The Department is also working on reproductive, maternal and newborn healthcare. The UK Government has earmarked £2.1 billion on women's and newborn health.

Eradicating malaria and other infectious diseases is "one of humanity's greatest achievements", according to Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and co-chairman of the foundation.

"With the combined skill and expertise of British scientists, leveraging the weight of both public and private financing and the continued leadership of George Osborne and the UK, the announcement of the Ross Fund will play a key role in reaching that goal", he added.

The UK Government-funded Malaria Consortium is implementing a project called 'Support to National Malaria Programme in Nigeria (SuNMaP),' in Nigeria.

The UK government has funded this project to the tune of £54million and this is being implemented in 10 states in Nigeria. In addition to malaria prevention, the project also focuses on capacity building, treatment, demand creation and operational research aspects.

Justine Greening, UK's International Development Secretary, said the Britain's top priority was securing a healthy and prosperous world. He stated that the effort to eradicate infectious diseases is a smart investment. 

The preventive measures have been successful in ensuring protection from malaria.

Oxford University's research reveals that bed nets are most effective in protection from mosquitoes. Other measures such as spraying are also giving positive results as the number of patients is decreasing.

As BBC narrated, about 663 million malaria patients are cured in Africa following the committed efforts to eradicate the infectious diseases since 2000.