Tuberculosis X PRIZE and Gates Foundation

X PRIZE Foundation to Help Fight Tuberculosis Worldwide with Gates Foundation Support - X PRIZE Foundation - From the press release:

The X PRIZE Foundation has received a planning grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop an X PRIZE for effective diagnosis of tuberculosis in the developing world. The overall goal of the prize will be to promote better management of the world’s second most lethal infectious disease. Innovation will need to be tailored for the use in under-developed regions, where over 60% of tuberculosis patients have access to only primitive, peripheral health clinics with scarce resources.

Dr. Geesaman from the Foundation says "Because of the existing lack of adequate financial incentives to develop such tests, a prize is an ideal tool to incentivize innovation in this important area."

The press release describes international interest in using prizes for fighting TB. I learned about these developments from the KEI Online site, and James Love from KEI is also featured in the press release.

Since I've posted on this developing prize before, I've made a tag for it.

Here's a link on a 2007 TED Prize Winner. A summary: Photojournalist James Nachtwey sees his TED Prize wish come true, as we share his powerful photographs of XDR-TB, a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis that's touching off a global medical crisis. Learn how to help at http://www.xdrtb.org.

On the TED Prizes: The TED Prize was created as a way of taking the inspiration, ideas and resources that are generated at TED and using them to make a difference. Although the winners receive a prize of $100,000 each, that's the least of what they get. The real prize is that they are granted a WISH. A wish to change the world.