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Immunization Registries Briefing ECBT Supports Continued Use of MMR Vaccine Additional News Stories and Press Releases National Infant Immunization Week Gates Foundation Awards $18 Million Grant to Sabin Vaccine Institute |
Awards $18 Million Grant to Sabin Vaccine Institute Albert B. Sabin Vaccine
Institute
For Immediate Release
Contact:
H. R. Shepherd
Joe Cerrell (for the Bill
& Melinda
Gates Foundation)
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
Awards $18 Million Grant
Funds for development of hookworm vaccine New Canaan, Conn. - The Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute announced today that it has received an $18 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funds will be used for the development of a vaccine to prevent hookworm infection. Approximately one-quarter of the world's population is infected with hookworm. "This grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation represents enlightened philanthropy because it will help us over the major economic barriers that have prevented development of a hookworm vaccine," said H. R. "Shep" Shepherd, chairman of the Sabin Vaccine Institute. "This is a huge step toward democratizing healthcare throughout the world," said Shepherd. "Hookworms infect about one billion people, mostly in developing countries. They stunt children's growth, sap victims' energy and make them anemic. A vaccine is the only realistic way to protect all people from this parasite." Peter J. Hotez, called "one of the world's few hookworm experts," in a 1998 Washington Post article, said, "Hookworm is a particularly serious problem in rural China. In some villages, more than one half of the population is infected." Hotez frequently visits remote areas of China to conduct research as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine's Institute of Parasitic Disease and the Peking Union Medical College. The parasite is estimated to be similarly prevalent in India, and is a major health problem in certain Latin American countries, as well. "Hookworms infect people of all ages but they are particularly devastating in children," explained Hotez. "Chronic hookworm-associated intestinal blood loss leads to iron deficiency and protein malnutrition. These conditions often retard intellectual and physical growth," according to Hotez. People who are treated for hookworm tend to become reinfected, he added. "The technology exists to make a vaccine to control hookworm but the resources available for this task have been meager," Hotez said. "Now, with this grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we can move ahead to develop a vaccine that will free millions of the world's most economically disadvantaged people from this scourge." No single sector - academia, government or industry - can develop a vaccine alone, Shepherd noted. The Sabin Vaccine Institute will draw on expertise and resources from each sector to translate scientific knowledge about hookworm antigens into a real product that helps people lead healthier lives, he said. "We are proud to support the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute and its quest to find a hookworm vaccine, which will free millions of the world's most economically disadvantaged people from this disease," said Gordon W. Perkin, M.D., director of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Sabin Vaccine Institute is a nonprofit educational and research foundation. Its mission is to save lives by stimulating development of new vaccines and by increasing immunization rates. It was founded in 1993 and named for Albert B. Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine that has been at the heart of the nearly-complete worldwide effort to eradicate paralytic polio. The Institute's headquarters is in New Canaan, Connecticut and it has an office in the Washington, DC area. Additional information about the Institute is available at www.sabin.org. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is dedicated to improving people's lives by sharing advances in health and learning with the global community. Led by Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates, Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based Foundation has an asset base of approximately $21.8 billion. Preventing disease among poor children by expanding access to vaccines, and developing vaccines against malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, are central priorities. Other major efforts include extending unprecedented opportunities for learning by bringing computers with Internet access to every eligible public library in the U.S. and Canada, and providing scholarships to academically talented minority students with severe financial need through the Gates Millennium Scholars Program (www.gmsp.org/(n21zfs455o5gciuvf33ubjeo)/default.aspx). For complete information and grant guidelines, visit www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm. |