"Grass-Roots Malaria Funding"

Source: "ScienceScope," Science, Volume 320, Number 5875, Issue of 25 April 2008.

"Even small donors can now support malaria research using a new Web site that connects them with African scientists. The site, MalariaEngage.org, provides descriptions of research projects. Donors can contribute as little as $10 to a specific project and follow its progress online.

"Peter Singer and Abdallah Daar of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health in Toronto, Canada, teamed up with Tom Hadfield, a successful entrepreneur and Harvard University undergraduate, to create the site with $200,000 from Genome Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Scientists at the National Institute for Medical Research in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, selected the first seven featured projects and will oversee the donations. Singer says the goal is to ensure that good ideas 'aren't flushed down the drain for lack of capital.'"