Bill Gates, other charities pledge $125 million towards COVID 19 treatments

CHICAGO - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 2 other large charities on Tuesday pledged up to $125 million to help speed the development of treatments for the fast-spreading coronavirus, which the World Health Organization said on Monday was nearing pandemic proportions.

The effort, known as the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, will focus on new and re-purposed drugs that can be used right away to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus and possibly other viruses in the future.

The money is intended to ensure that treatments for the virus will be available in poor countries and affordable for individuals.

Currently, no antiviral drugs or other immune system treatments have been approved to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

The Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust medical charity are each contributing up to $50 million, and the Mastercard Impact Fund has committed up to $25 million for initial projects.

The Gates Foundation’s funding is part of its $100 million commitment to the COVID-19 response announced last month.

"Viruses like COVID-19 spread rapidly, but the development of vaccines and treatments to stop them moves slowly," Mark Suzman, chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in a statement.

"If we want to make the world safe from outbreaks like COVID-19, particularly for those most vulnerable, then we need to find a way to make research and development move faster. That requires governments, private enterprise, and philanthropic organizations to act quickly to fund research and development."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fil-Canadian's project makes use of wasted food

NEW WESTMINSTER B.C. - Danison Buan drops by his local supermarket three times a week to pick up unsold food that the store would otherwise throw away.

After working in a restaurant for years, Buan knows a lot of good food goes to waste. So he rescues "them" to feed those in need thru a project called "Re-Food".

"We are reducing food wastage, and we are feeding people in need and we educate the youth," Buan said.

From produce that are unappealing but still perfectly edible, to meat and dairy products that are near dated, Buan takes them away and re-purposes them thru charities that get smoothies and fresh food to cook with.

He also saves the supermarket some costs in compost fees.

For the past seven months, Buan has worked with different charities and has begun working with schools to educate the youth about food waste.

"It's a sense of enjoyment as well because you get to see all the people that you helped, all the people that were not having nutritious meals. Now, they have nutritious meals," he said.

In January, Buan will launch a 50-50 campaign fundraiser to raise $50,000 for 50,000 meals and to raise more awareness.

Read more on Balitang America.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com