Gates Foundation funds UBC program for pregnant women

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing a $17-million follow-on grant to the Univ of British Columbia to locate and treat pregnant women at risk of succumbing to pre-eclampsia, an often-fatal onset of high blood pressure. The grant follows $7.4 million in support previously provided by the foundation, allowing UBC's Child & Family Research Institute to conduct four large-scale trials involving 130,000 pregnant women in Nigeria, Mozambique, Pakistan and India. The trials will involve the use of smart phone technology to calculate risk scores, and test diagnostic and treatment strategies including calcium supplements and three types of blood pressure-lowering drugs....