Gates Foundation combats sleep illness with a $15 million investment
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged €15 million (approximately $17.5 million) to the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium, to support the GAMBIT project. This initiative aims to eradicate African sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by introducing a novel "screen-and-treat" approach [1][2][3].
African sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease transmitted by tsetse flies, is a significant health concern in 36 sub-Saharan African countries, with an estimated 60 million people at risk. The disease is fatal unless treated, and currently, nearly 500,000 people are infected [1].
The GAMBIT project in Antwerp, scheduled to launch in 2029, employs a simplified "screen-and-treat" strategy. Mobile teams will travel to remote communities, testing individuals for antibodies that indicate infection. Positive cases will be treated immediately with a single-dose oral drug called acoziborole [1][2].
Since humans are the only hosts for the parasites causing African sleeping sickness, this strategy could potentially make eradication achievable. The disease can also be transmitted through mother to child, blood, and sexual activity, as well as through the bites of infected tsetse flies [1].
Dr. Elena Nicco, an infectious disease expert at ITM, described the GAMBIT project as a "turning point" that could "turn the tide for good." She emphasised that the easier-to-find cases have been treated, and remaining infections pose a risk of resurgence. The new oral treatment and mobile "screen-and-treat" model aim to simplify detection and immediate treatment in remote areas, which could decisively "turn the tide for good" [1][2].
The Gates Foundation's Director of the Global Health Program, Dr. Gordon Perkin, expressed optimism about the consortium's ability to develop and distribute new drugs for trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and leishmaniasis. He stated that the funding supports the GAMBIT project's efforts to address the challenge that, although cases have dramatically fallen (by 97% in the last 20 years), detecting the remaining infections is increasingly difficult [1].
The GAMBIT project collaborates with Congolese health authorities and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to build sustainable elimination efforts in line with the World Health Organization’s goal to eliminate sleeping sickness by 2030 [1].
In summary, the Gates Foundation's funding supports a novel, integrated approach combining active surveillance with simplified treatment to overcome current limitations in eradicating sleeping sickness in the DRC. The project's strategy could potentially make eradication of African sleeping sickness possible, as humans are the parasite's only host.
[1] EISA Global [2] World Health Organization [3] Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
