Bill and Melinda Gates: Let’s chart path to eradicate malaria

by Amy DiElsi

Melinda Gates, Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, opened the Gates Malaria Forum in Seattle this morning with a call to embrace the effort to eradicate malaria. While many have been cautious to declare full eradication of the disease as the ultimate goal, Melinda urged the scientists, researchers, and advocates in the room to join Gates in this new endeavor in order to limit the human and financial costs and to ensure that we don’t allow the malaria parasite to continue to adapt to new preventions and treatments.

Melinda talked about her past trip to Zambia where she met a young girl sick with malaria. The girl and her family were waiting for an ambulance to take her to get the care she needed to survive. She doesn’t know if the young girl made it to the hospital in time. Melinda said, “No child should die of malaria in today’s world.” She added, “Any goal short of eradicating malaria is accepting malaria.”

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