Bill Gates aims to save 8.7 million children

Gates Foundation commits $10 billion to fight diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $10 billion over the next decade to help develop vaccines including those to prevent severe diarrhea and pneumonia to cover 90 percent of children in developing countries and save potentially as many as 7.6 million children under five between 2010 and 2019.

The foundation also estimated that with rapid introduction of a malaria vaccine beginning in 2014, an additional 1.1 million children could be saved.

Over the last 10 years, the Gates Foundation has reportedly committed $4.5 billion to vaccine development and establishment of the GAVI alliance that coordinates resources for vaccine development and delivery for poor countries.

Gates announced the decision Friday at the World Economic Forum. In response, Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, said "The Gates Foundation's commitment to vaccines is unprecedented, but just a small part of what is needed."

Ms. Chan added "It's absolutely crucial that both governments and the private sector step up efforts to provide life-saving vaccines to children who need them most.”

Some vaccines under development include those against rotavirus-triggered severe diarrhea, and pneumococcal disease from GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Pfizer.  Malaria vaccine is also under development.

Ms Chan was cited as Reuters as saying an extra two million children under five could be spared from dying from infectious disease by 2015 simply using new vaccines and increasing the global immunization by 10 percent.

Alternative antiviral medicine

Vaccine works well against many infectious diseases.  However, it may not be the only drug that is effective at fighting at least some diseases like rotavirus-induced diarrhea.  Some alternatives are readily available to fight these infectious diseases.

One study led by Brijesh S and colleagues of the Foundation for Medical Research in Mumbai, India confirmed that the extract of Aegle Marmelos correa may help treat diarrhea.

The hot aqueous extract of dried unripe fruit pulp of A. marmelos has been used in indigenous systems of Indian medicine as an anti-diarrhea medicine.

Brijesh and colleagues tested the preparation for its antibacterial, antigiardial and antiviral activities including its effect on adherence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, invasion of enteroinvasive E. coli, Shigella flexneri to HEp-2 cells; production of E. coli heat labile toxin, cholera toxin, and their binding to ganglioside monosialic acid receptor; and production and action of E. coli heat stable toxin.

They found the herbal medicine killed Giardia and rotavirus while it did not have an effect on six bacterial strains.  It also significantly reduced bacterial adherence to and invasion of HEp-2 cells, and affected production of cholera toxin and binding of both E coli heat labile toxin and cholera toxin  to ganglioside monosialic acid receptor.  The extract did not affect E coli heat stable toxin though.

The researchers concluded in their study report published in the Nov 2009 issue of BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine that the observations justified use of the extract of the unripe fruit pulp of A. marmelos to treat diarrheal diseases.

By Jimmy Downs