The NIH and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, will invest at least $200 million over the next four years to develop affordable gene-based cures globally for sickle cell disease and HIV infection. The announcement of this timely collaboration was made during a late-morning telebriefing at NIH on October 23, 2019. Here, I met with two of my fellow participants on the call: Gary Gibbons (left), director of NIH’s Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and Trevor Mundel, (middle), president of the Gates Foundation’s global health efforts. Also joining the telebriefing remotely by phone were Tony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Matishidiso Moeti, director of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa. Credit: NIH
One condition for which NIH researchers are working to reduce disparities is asthma, the most common chronic condition that keeps kids home from school.
Compared to white children, Puerto Rican youngsters are 2.4 times more likely to suffer from asthma, African Americans, 1.6 times; and American Indians/Alaska Natives, 1.3 times.
