Infectious diseases

€9,758,075: the final scoreboard for La Marató 2017

The 2017 edition of La Marató de TV3 and Catalunya Radio, dedicated to infectious diseases, closed with its scoreboard showing €9,758,075. From the broadcast of the programme on 17 December until 31 March, when the period for receiving donations finished, the figure on the board rose by more than 2.5 million euros, the second highest growth in the history of La Marató.

This result, which is among the five highest of the 26 editions, is a clear indication of how, for another year, Catalan society has answered the call and turned out in support of La Marató with a volume of resources that will raise awareness and boost research on diseases that cause one of every three deaths in the world and which, according to the experts, will become a serious problem for public health in the coming years. As well as this successful result, there is the success of the participation and the awareness-raising that took place around the project, such as the 3,307 popular activities that mobilised a million people, the 2,400 volunteers who dealt with the thousands of telephone donations while the programmes were being broadcast on radio and television, and the 220,000 young people who attended the 5,339 talks held in a thousand schools, civic centres and libraries.

A boost for biomedical research on infectious disease

Preventing infectious diseases that can affect anybody, treating them more efficiently, finding ways to cure them, and improving the hopes and quality of life of people who have them – these are the goals of the scientific research of excellence that will be promoted by the funds collected in this edition of the programme.

The Foundation will fund the research projects that achieve the highest score among the 214 that have been presented in response to the call. Currently, scientists of international renown who are experts in infectious diseases are reviewing the candidate projects through an evaluation process co-ordinated by Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research (AQuAS). Each proposal will be scored by two assessors according to its quality, methodology, its scientific, healthcare and social relevance, innovative value and viability. Finally, an ad hoc committee will present a list with the highest scoring projects, which will be studied by the Scientific Advisory Committee and submitted to the Board of the Foundation to be approved. The decision on the distribution of the funds that have been collected will be made public in October 2018.