New Orleans, LA. – In an interview of philanthropist Bill Gates, he said that he wants to stop malaria and that he is prepared to boost aid to stamp out the disease.
This is just one part of Gate’s steps towards fighting against tropical ailments treated in urgent care clinics that are getting unusual attention of the public following the Ebola epidemic.
In a speech that the Microsoft co-founder gave last Sunday at a global health conference that was held in New Orleans, the philanthropist said that his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase its budget for its malaria program by 30% more which should be around $200 million every year. This is not including the other donations that the foundation gives to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
As Bill Gates said in his speech, small steps towards reaching the goal would not get the job done with the researchers not having all the needed tools to get rid of malaria.
Part of this plan is to develop a vaccine or a drug that will purge the malaria parasite in individuals carrying it without any symptoms shown helping spread the illness. He believes that it is possible to eradicate malaria in his lifetime given that there’s enough funding that would help every urgent care clinic keep going.
Bill Gates, who just celebrated his 59th birthday, also spoke at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting which is a conference which doesn’t normally get noticed by the public. It is most of the time talks about diseases that are referred to by many as ‘neglected diseases’.
The case this year is different and just last Wednesday, the officials of New Orleans, LA formed a stir by asking around 3,500 people listed for the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference to not go anywhere near if they have been to a West African country lately or have had any interaction with a person who is a victim of Ebola within the last 3 weeks.
The coordinators of the conference didn’t agree with the move of the Louisiana officials though. They believe that the stance was just an overreaction of the officials for the fear of the Ebola epidemic which may even hinder the scientists from having their studies on the outbreak presented which have taken the lives of more than 5,000 Africans already.
With everything that’s going on, the fear of Ebola, the need to find an urgent care near me and a lot of things going on in the health care industry, Bill Gates said that his foundation will give funding to fight against pneumonia, malaria and other parasitic diseases that need urgent care affecting the poorer countries.
