Better news for world health.

Bill Gates has just committed $287 Million over the next five years to accelerate research and discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine. It’s a little ironic that the man consistently accused of monopoly is promoting global communication and partnerships in other areas, but I think this may make a difference for the world. At the very least, it should serve as an example to others. Highlights from the MSNBC article are pasted below:

SEATTLE - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday it’s awarding $287 million in grants over five years to create an international network of scientists to speed up the development of an AIDS vaccine.

Each of the 165 investigators in 19 countries who will get money in this series of grants had to agree to share their findings in real time and compare results with others — even if they had been working on competing projects in the past. Historically, HIV vaccine research mostly has been conducted by small research groups working independently, said Dr. Juliana McElrath, associate head of the infectious diseases program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and a lead researcher on one of the new grants. “While critical progress has been made, the HIV vaccine field has lacked a shared, focused strategy,” she said.

Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, complimented the Gates Foundation on the approach it was taking, but warned against assuming that this is enough money to finish the work. “Funding for AIDS vaccine research is still short of what we need,” Warren said.