Geneva --
The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics
(FIND), whose mission is to promote the health
of people affected by poverty-related diseases
by developing safe, affordable and easy-to use
diagnostics, will expand its current malaria
portfolio with a $9.8 million grant from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The grant will allow FIND to evaluate the performance of existing rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria and identify improvements needed for new malaria diagnostics. The program will also detail the technical and business obstacles to developing more accurate and robust alternatives.
The new grant was announced shortly before a White House Summit on Malaria held on 14 December 2006, hosted by President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. The summit brought together some 250 political leaders, scientists and advocates who discussed new opportunities to fight malaria globally and jump-start new public-private efforts to address the disease.
Work on FIND’s
project will include both laboratory and field test evaluations, and collaboration
on the development of a bank of reference testing materials with the World
Health Organization, including its Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) and
Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR).
“This grant
will accelerate a vital area of work, allowing WHO and FIND to provide reliable
information on the performance of dozens of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria
now coming into increasingly common use in developing countries,” said Dr. David
Bell, Malaria Diagnostics Officer at WHO/WPRO. “Without such a program to
rationalize the selection and delivery of high quality tests, we will lose much
of the benefit of a key weapon in the fight against malaria and a potential
revolution in management of fever in tropical countries.”
In addition, the rapidly expanding implementation of WHO’s recommended artemisinin-based combination therapies, which are more effective but more expensive than previous treatment regimens, increases the urgency of accurate case detection.
“Every year, there are some 800 million cases of fever in areas where malaria is common. Although most of these fevers are not due to the disease, patients are often given treatment with anti-malaria drugs. This is not only a waste of precious resources, but also threatens the health of millions of people, especially children, by ignoring other causes of fever,” said Dr. Mark Perkins, FIND’s Chief Scientific Officer. “Having lost two generations of anti-malaria drugs to rising resistance, we cannot afford to lose the last effective drugs.”
RDTs developed over the last decade allow rapid detection of malaria parasite antigens in a fingerprick blood sample, and can be performed by health workers at the community level without extensive training. As RDTs are commonly stored and used in relatively remote locations, temperature stability and prolonged shelf-life is critical.
“With this project, FIND will extend its mission to ensure the delivery of accurate and affordable diagnostics for infectious diseases to the underprivileged in developing countries,” said FIND Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Giorgio Roscigno. “Clear and timely information about the cause of illness enables families to save time, money, and health. FIND is excited about working with partners to make sure that those who need it have access to reliable testing for malaria.”
All investments made through the malaria project will be targeted toward the delivery of safe and effective diagnostics that can reduce disease burden and improve quality of care for malaria. The implementation of this project should also help facilitate national and international quality assurance and prequalification activities, as well as pave the way for future improvements in current RDTs.
About FIND
The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) is a non-profit Swiss
foundation based in Geneva. Its purpose is to support and promote the health of
people in developing countries by sponsoring the development and introduction of
new but affordable diagnostic tools for poverty related diseases. FIND’s current
donors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, the European Union
and the Dutch Government.
For more information, please contact: FIND Communications, Tel. +41 22 710 27 86
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