Bill Gates pledges $258 million to develop anti-malaria vaccine

The world's richest man, the founder of Microsoft Corp. pledged more than $258 million for scientific research that would help the world defeat the dangerous mosquito-born disease and test the first-ever vaccine against it.

Mr Gates, the world’s richest man, will today pledge the largest single donation to the quest to eradicate &to=http://english.pravda.ru/cis/2002/10/03/37688.html' target=_blank>malaria, a disease that kills up to 2.7 million people a year. About 75 per cent of victims are African children.

The billionaire paid tribute to the work of the British scientific research community and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which will receive more than Ј28 million for pioneering research into mosquito control, informs timesonline.