Gates foundation rewards Kenyan scholar for idea to fight malaria
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A local scholar is among 76 recipients of a global Sh547.2 million grants for research to eradicate killer diseases. Baraton University scientist Jackie Obey has received Sh7.2 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to test the efficacy of a test tube kit for detecting malaria in the human blood. Obey secured the funding based on his proposal: Malaria Diagnosis Using Iron and Plasma. Malaria kills 34,000 infants under five annually in Kenya. The foundation seeks to fund unconventional projects to accelerate eradication of malaria, HIV and Aids and other infectious diseases. Obey’s proposal topped the diagnosis infectious diseases category and he was among 3,000 applicants from all over the world. wide range "Scientists were represented from all levels – young post-graduates and veterans from a wide range of disciplines in sciences," says the foundation Global Health Program president Tachi Yamada in a press release. The research sponsorship dubbed Grand Challenges Explorations supports 262 researchers in 30 countries in Africa and Europe. The grants support projects as diverse as using the power of sunlight to kill malaria-causing mosquito larvae and developing a device that repels mosquitoes without insecticides. Other winners from Africa include Margaret Njoroge-Mendi of Med Biotech Laboratories in Uganda. He project is on Maternal Immunisation to Protect Infants Against Malaria. Dr Sungano Mharakurwa of the Malaria Institute, Zambia got funding to study pre-season elimination of malaria carrier infections.