Jessica Milman, Senior Program Officer, Infectious Diseases Global Health Programme of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently visited Ghana. She spoke to some members of the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) in Accra about current projects being supported by the Foundation in Africa including the new initiative known as the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Anti-malarial Drugs (INESS)

The project is to provide decision makers with independent and objective evidence on the safety and effectiveness of new anti-malarial drugs.  Jessica is confident that the project will form the basis for malaria treatment policy in Africa. She said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is injecting over 28 million dollars into the project, which is to be carried out in eight demographic surveillance sites in Ghana, Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Mozambique.

Answering questions about the future of malaria on the Continent, Jessica said she was confident that with concerted efforts, malaria can be eradicated