Philanthropist Bill Gates promised $31 million as part of a new Central America malaria elimination fund aimed at wiping out the disease in seven of the region’s countries and the Dominican Republic.

In a joint plan with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Carlos Slim Foundation, Gates said the Regional Malaria Elimination Initiative (RMEI) would bring a total of $83.6 million in new funds “to ensure malaria remains a top health and development priority despite dwindling numbers of cases”.

The new money would also help leverage more than $100 million in domestic financing and $39 million of existing donor money in the region by 2022, the philanthropist’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said in a statement.

Read the full article about Bill Gates' pledge to help eliminate malaria in Central America at reuters.com.