Friday, April 23rd
A leading UK research institution for tropical diseases has secured £10m to help the fight against Malaria in the developing world.
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was given the 17.5m euro grant to research new anti-malaria drugs.
Researchers will aim to develop a drug which costs less than 10p for a full course in order to reach those worst-affected by the disease.
Almost £60 million has been invested in the school in recent months.
Professor Steve Ward, deputy director at the school, said the latest grant would mean Liverpool would be the lead partner in a European consortium working on the EU-funded project.
Children are dying in Africa because they don't have access to cheap and effective drugs
Professor Steve Ward
"We will be recruiting a whole cross discipline team of scientists for this project, from parasitologists to chemists, and will work with partners in Europe.
"The aim is to bring together as much of the expertise that exists in Europe as we can to focus on this particular challenge."
Prof Ward said the malaria parasite which causes the disease had become resistant to the most common drugs, such as chloroquine.
"They just don't work any more so mortality from malaria is worse than it was 20 years ago.
"Children are dying in Africa because they don't have access to cheap and effective drugs," he added.
Malaria kills more than one million people every year - mostly young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Last year, the school was awarded £18m of public funding for a new Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases and nearly £29 million for malaria research from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
