UK launches £6.5m Ebola research fund
Justine Greening, International Development Secretary,
challenged experts worldwide to come forward urgently with research proposals
leading to more effective ways of managing the current outbreak.
He said Ebola outbreak was the worst on record, and
controlling the future outbreak of the deadly virus had become imperative.
Jeremy Farrar, Wellcome Trust’s Director said the Ebola
epidemic in West Africa demands an urgent
response before it ravaged the region.
He said the two organisers believed that rapid research into
humanitarian interventions and therapeutics can have an impact on treatment and
containment during the present outbreak.
Farrar said ``what we learn could also change the way we
approach future outbreaks, providing us with tested tools and techniques that
were not available to public health authorities this time.”
He said the research initiative was jointly funded by the
Wellcome Trust, one of the world’s largest medical charities, and DfiD and that
the projects would be managed by Enhancing Learning & Research for
Humanitarian Assistance, ELRHA.
Farrar said funding would be awarded to teams that provide
strong evidence and analysis on the disease in areas including anthropology,
diagnosis, control and prevention, social mobilisation and treatment.
He said proposals would be reviewed immediately, and
research projects that are approved would begin as soon as possible.
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