Gates Announces Major Gifts

Deadly but neglected parasitic diseases are the latest target of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will give $68.2-million in grants today to develop cures for such illnesses that kill or disable millions of people annually, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Grant recipients include the Infectious Disease Research Institute of Seattle, which will use its $32-million gift to complete trials of a vaccine to treat a parasite transmitted by sand flies. (A paid subscription is required to view this article.)

The Gates Foundation is also announcing a big education grant: a one-year, $1.3-million gift to Los Angeles schools to pay for teacher training and curriculum design, with an aim toward building on gains at the elementary-school level, reports the Los Angeles Times.

While not the largest grant the foundation has awarded, the money is indicative of a closer relationship between Gates and the country’s second-largest public-school system, the paper reports.