A coalition of governments and philanthropies announced Wednesday $18 million in funding to roll out the rapid scale-up of a promising new mosquito control method in Zika-hit Brazil and Colombia.
The U.K.’s Department for International Development, the United States Agency for International Development and the governments of Colombia and Brazil, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, will fund the $18 million effort. The Gates Foundation is the largest donor, with $8 million, followed by USAID, and the Wellcome Trust jointly with DfID, both offering $5 million.
If successful, the innovation will be a brand new form of vector control and potentially the most successful health intervention funded by the Gates Foundation to date.