Doctors aiming to make a cheap and effective malaria drug available across Africa have been awarded a $1.5m grant by the Gates Malaria Partnership, based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which was established with $40m from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.

Experts will look at the best way of using the anti-malarial drug Lapdap. Tom Kanyock, manager of product development for TDR, said: “It appears that Lapdap would offer a safe and effective low -cost alternative to the drugs currently available. Both drugs which make up Lapdap have been around for a long time, and used for other things”.