Covid-19
La Marató 2020 closes with a scoreboard of 13,864,073 euros and will fund 98 teams researching Covid-19
The money raised in La Marató 2020 will make it possible to promote 36 research projects on Covid-19 run by 98 research teams, with the aim of finding tools for prevention and diagnosis and designing new treatments with which to confront the disease
This year's La Marató, which was dedicated to Covid-19, added over 3.5 milion euros more to what was on the provisional scoreboard on 20 December to reach a final total of 13,864,073 euros, the third highest in the history of the programme. These resources have made it possible to raise awareness about Covid-19 and will boost research in preventing, treating and curing this disease. For a prompt contribution to this goal the Foundation has already announced that it will fast-track the adjudication of the money and is publishing the 98 research teams that will work on running the 36 selected projects, listed here.
Boost for research as 98 teams investigate Covid-19
The health emergency caused by the pandemic and the urgent need for more resources to investigate SARS-CoV-2 led the Foundation to bring forward and fast-track the whole process of awarding the funds that were raised. Now we announce the 36 research projects to be funded from this edition, run by 98 research teams. This research, with the generosity of the general public, will very soon by making a profound contribution to knowledge of the new coronavirus, finding new tools for prevention and diagnosis, and to designing new treatments with which to confront Covid-19.
Exceptionally, the Foundation announced its call for grant applications in January and February. By May the 229 applicant projects had been reviewed telematically, using a process of proven rigour and transparency, coordinated by the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research and involving 95 international evaluators. The assessment, among other aspects, of the quality, methodology, scientific and social health relevance, innovative value and viability of the submitted projects determined which of them would be funded with the resources of La Marató 2020.
With these new funds raised by La Marató and the award of the funds to research, the charity project of the Catalan Media Corporation and the Foundation has raised close to 216 milion euros since 1992 and has promoted a total of 949 research projects, in which 9,350 investigators have taken part.
An exceptional Marató in every sense
La Marató of 2020 offered 21 hours of live programming with Roger Escapa in Cataluña Radio, and Laura Rosel, Mònica Terribas, Raquel Sans and Jordi Basté in TV3. The awareness-raising and the publicity about Covid-19 were mixed in with the entertainment in that travelled around the different health centres throughout Catalonia with the desire to pay homage to all the groups and associations that have been in the front line of the pandemic.
It was a Marató that was fully adapted to the limitations of the pandemic, in which it was necessary to reinvent many settings and formulas of participation. We must mention the setting-up of the donations phone line in the weeks prior to the programme, the promotion of the digital channels for making donations and the replacement, on the day of La Marató, of the traditional call centres by an electronic system for receiving calls to make donations. With great ingenuity and capacity for adaptation, entities from all over Catalonia organised 1,793 charity activities that followed health safety guidelines. Also, the publicity campaign aimed at youngsters was mostly done virtually. There were 8,022 informative sessions, which is the highest figure for participation in the history of La Marató, reaching 202,000 young people.
