Donors Pledge $240-Million for Push on Tropical Diseases

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other donors will commit $240-million Wednesday to tackling neglected tropical diseases, the Financial Times writes in an article about how major drug companies are mixing commerce and philanthropy to combat public health problems in Africa.

The industry’s nonprofit efforts are the focus of a meeting Wednesday in Paris, where donors will hear a report on progress in fighting Guinea worm, leprosy, and other tropical maladies. The Gates Foundation and the London-based Children’s Investment Fund are to pledge $50-million each, with the World Bank and other contributors supplying $140-million.

The meeting follows GlaxoSmithKline’s announcement Monday of a five-year, $216-million investment in manufacturing and research efforts in Africa. Mr. Gates said progress on tropical diseases, toward which big pharmaceutical firms have donated $13.3-billion in medications, showed the industry “could have the best of both worlds: going after profitable drugs for rich and middle-income countries and providing treatments at cost for the very poorest.”