国家自然科学基金委与盖茨基金会联合发起“大挑战”，支持抗疟国际合作研究

中国国家自然科学基金委员会（以下简称“自然科学基金委”）和比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会（以下简称“盖茨基金会”）近日联合发起“大挑战：户外疟疾媒介控制项目”，号召国际合作开发疟疾传播媒介控制的创新解决方案，聚焦户外疟疾媒介控制的创新策略、工具和产品，以加快实现在全球范围内消除疟疾的目标。

这一项目是自然科学基金委和盖茨基金会于2015年共同成立的“中国大挑战”系列项目之一。“中国大挑战”旨在资助研究安全、有效、可负担、易推广的解决方案，以应对全球面临的重大健康与发展挑战。

疟疾是一种以蚊子为传播媒介的疾病，虽然致命但可以预防和治疗。疟疾每年影响全球数亿人口的健康和生命。尽管过去20多年全球在疟疾防治上取得了显著进展，但它仍在超过85个中低收入国家和社区广泛存在。2021年《世界疟疾报告》数据显示，2020年全球约有2.41亿疟疾病例，导致了62.7万例死亡，其中约95%的疾病负担都发生在非洲。

媒介控制是疟疾防控必不可少的重要方面，主要措施包括扩大药浸蚊帐（ITNs）和长效药浸蚊帐（LLINs）的使用，以及加强室内滞留喷洒（IRS）。虽然绝大部分的疟疾传播发生在室内，但疟疾的户外传播问题令人日益担忧，亟需更多投入来推动科学和技术上的突破。自然科学基金委和盖茨基金会希望通过此次联合资助促进国际合作，发现和培育创新的策略、技术、产品及工具，应对户外疟疾传播所特有的挑战。

中国在消除疟疾方面积累了丰富的经验和专业知识，并在今年早些时候被世界卫生组织认证为无疟疾国家。自然科学基金委希望在本项目的资助下鼓励中国科学家开展国际合作研究，进而为帮助仍然受到疟疾威胁的国家贡献智慧。

消除疟疾是盖茨基金会的重要工作之一。盖茨基金会在推动继续扩大使用现有工具的同时，致力于持续开发并加速引入新的工具和解决方案，确保有效应对不断进化的疟原虫和传播疟疾的蚊子，实现全球消除疟疾目标。

作为长期战略伙伴，双方共同发起这一新项目，旨在利用全球合作的力量来促进创新，帮助那些仍受疟疾威胁的人们摆脱这一本应可防可治的疾病。

“大挑战：户外疟疾媒介控制项目”将最多资助六项疟疾媒介控制研究方案，方案应包含中外科研机构研究人员之间的国际合作。评审方将依据方案在疟疾流行国家和地区的可应用性、可负担性和可推广性对方案进行评估。每个获批项目将获得自然科学基金委和盖茨基金会总计不超过300万元人民币的联合资助。

申请“大挑战：户外疟疾媒介控制项目”的中方科研人员必须通过盖茨基金会委托的第三方项目管理单位“中国科学技术交流中心”向盖茨基金会提交英文申请书，并向自然基金委提供中文申请书。只向一方提交申请书的申请人将无资格获得本次自然科学基金委-盖茨基金会合作研究项目的资助。任何不符合要求的申请都将退回不予审查。

如需了解关于联合资助项目的更多信息，请访问国家自然科学基金委官方网站发布的项目指南（https://bic.nsfc.gov.cn/Show.aspx?AI=1582）。 

中国国家自然科学基金委员会是由科学技术部管理，依法管理国家自然科学基金，相对独立运行的机构。自然科学基金委将国际合作作为优先事项，致力于通过国际合作推动科研进步，为中国科学家营造有利氛围，在世界科学界发挥更大作用。

秉承所有生命价值平等的信念，比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会致力于帮助人们过上健康而富有成效的生活。在发展中国家，基金会主要致力于提高人民的健康水平，使他们有机会摆脱饥饿和极端贫困。在美国，基金会致力于确保所有人——特别是拥有资源最少的人——有机会在学习和生活中取得成功。基金会总部设在美国西雅图，在比尔·盖茨和梅琳达·弗兰奇·盖茨的指导下，由首席执行官马克·苏斯曼管理。

“大挑战”是2003年比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会推出的系列项目，旨在解决全球健康与发展进程中的关键问题，服务最需要帮助的人。项目以挑战赛的形式公开征集提案，以吸引关注和扩大影响。“中国大挑战”是继“加拿大大挑战”、“巴西大挑战”、“印度大挑战”及“非洲大挑战”之后的又一“大挑战”项目。自2015年推出以来，“中国大挑战”项目已为多个研究项目提供支持，涵盖结核病药物和疫苗的创新研究，旨在缩短结核病疗程的临床试验以及基于结构的艾滋病疫苗设计等工作。

The program is part of the Grand Challenges China initiative co-established by NSFC and the Gates Foundation in 2015 to fund research projects that contribute to safe, effective, affordable and scalable solutions to major global health and development challenges.

Malaria is a deadly yet preventable and treatable mosquito-borne disease affecting hundreds of millions of people annually. Despite progress made over the past two decades, malaria persists in over 85 low- and middle-income countries and communities. According to the 2021 World Malaria Report, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627,000 deaths globally in 2020, with Africa bearing about 95 percent of the disease burden.

Vector control is an essential component of malaria prevention, with the scale-up of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) or long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), and expansion of indoor residual spraying (IRS) as key contributing factors. While the majority of malaria transmission occurs indoors, there are increasing concerns around the magnitude of outdoor transmission, where more investment in scientific and technological breakthroughs is much needed. With the joint call announced today, NSFC and the Gates Foundation aim to promote international cooperation to identify and cultivate innovative strategies, techniques, products and tools that address specific challenges in outdoor malaria transmission.

China has abundant experience and expertise in eliminating malaria, and was declared malaria-free by the World Health Organization earlier this year. Through this funding program, NSFC encourages Chinese scientists to conduct research collaboratively with international organizations, and to contribute to the fight against malaria in countries that are still under its threat.

Malaria eradication is a top priority of the Gates Foundation. While continuing to expand the use of existing tools, the foundation is also committed to continuously developing and accelerating introduction of new tools and solutions that are essential to staying ahead of the malaria parasite and mosquito that transmits it and achieving the eradication goal.

As long-term, strategic partners, NSFC and Gates Foundation co-launched this new program to harness the power of global collaboration to catalyze innovations for the benefit of those who continue to be most threatened by this preventable and treatable disease.

The joint program will fund up to six proposals on malaria vector control. Eligible projects must involve international collaborations between investigators in China-based and international institutions. Proposals will be assessed upon the potential for practical, affordable and scalable application in malaria endemic countries and regions. Each proposal, if selected, will be funded up to RMB3,000,000.

Tasked with the administration of the National Natural Science Fund from the Central Government, NSFC is an institution managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) but keeping its due independence in operation. International collaboration has become a priority for NSFC. NSFC aims to advance research through international collaborations, and cultivate a favorable environment for Chinese scientists to play a greater role in the global scientific community.

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.

Launched in 2003 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems for those most in need. It uses challenges – launched as open requests for grant proposals – to focus attention and efforts for impact. Grand Challenges China is part of the Grand Challenges family, joining other members including Grand Challenges Canada, Brazil, India, and Africa, among others. Since its launch in 2015, GC China has supported four research projects that contributed to progresses on tuberculosis vaccine design, clinical trial to shorten tuberculosis treatment period, and HIV vaccine design.