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>University of Oxford Global Health Programme

Donation Period:

2007 & 2010

Project Description:

The world is becoming more interdependent every day. Nowhere is this more true than in the field of global health, where diseases spread at least as fast as the knowledge to contain them. Mr. Li Ka-shing has demonstrated a huge commitment to improving global health. His Foundation contributed £2 million in 2007 to establish the Li Ka Shing Foundation – University of Oxford Global Health Programme and provided an additional £5 million in 2010 to build on its success. The contribution enabled the creation of a true network of excellence in education and research that links research groups from China and across Asia to Oxford and the UK. This new funding for research and teaching will lead to advances in combating many infectious diseases, from emerging infectious diseases, influenza, malaria and dengue to tuberculosis and HIV.

The programme is administered by a board of senior Oxford University health scientists led by Professor Jeremy Farrar, an expert on infectious diseases. It supports:

Research – Fast access to seed funding for research projects in global health, particularly for new projects that significantly impact health issues important within Asia.

Scholarships – Scholarships for students of Oxford’s Global Health Sciences MSc.

Collaborations with Shantou University (STU) – A training programme in infectious disease research at STU will be funded, and a number of medical students from STU will attend Oxford for further medical training. Clinical scientists will have the opportunity to complete graduate degrees at the University of Oxford.

Work supported by this programme has helped identify the emergence in Cambodia of malaria strain resistant to the most effective anti-malarial drug artemisinin (originally developed by Chinese scientists from traditional Chinese medicine), a drug which is crucial to combating malaria worldwide. Efforts are now under way to respond to this threat. Ongoing efforts in China, Vietnam, and Thailand funded by LKSF have been important in responding to the swine flu pandemic.

Significance:

	The Li Ka Shing Foundation Global Health Programme develops and supports new global health research networks with Asia (and with China, in particular) to combat killer and emerging diseases, improving health in the region and throughout the world.
	The expansion of this programme will bring together a group of leading medical health professionals from world-class institutes to collaborate on new research in the fields of prevention and cure, and to mentor and nurture talented students of the health sciences. These collective efforts will lead to improved lives and a better future for peoples around the globe.