The Gates Foundation and the HHS National Institutes of Health Partner to Tackle Nutrition Deficiencies and MalariaMarch 5, 2008 – Today the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it is giving the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a $9.3 million, five-year grant to research and develop methods to diagnose and treat iron deficiency and better understand its interaction with malaria and other infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world. It is the only nutrient deficiency that is also significantly prevalent in industrialized countries. Around two billion people – over 30 percent of the world’s population – suffer from anemia, primarily caused by iron deficiency. Iron deficiency can leave people more susceptible to infectious diseases, like malaria. In the past, public-health officials have treated iron deficiency in these areas by distributing iron supplements to local populations. However, indiscriminate distribution gave supplements to people without iron deficiency, and the excessive iron caused higher susceptibility to malaria. This grant will support and inform work undertaken by the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), started in June 2005, which will increase U.S. Government funding by more than $1.2 billion over five years to deduce deaths from the disease in 15 African countries by 50 percent. PMI will achieve this goal by reaching 85 percent of the most vulnerable groups – children under five years of age and pregnant women – with proven and effective prevention and treatment measures: indoor spraying of homes with insecticides, distributing insecticide–treated mosquito nets, providing life-saving anti-malarial drugs, and treating pregnant women to prevent malaria. For more information:
Last revised: March 17, 2008 | 
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