Saying that medical science has solved the "easy" problems of the rich world, Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Sunday announced a million fund aimed at luring researcherssintosfinding original cures for the poor world's ailments.

　　"By accelerating research to overcome scientific obstacles in AIDS , malaria, and other diseases, millions of lives could be saved," Gates told reporters in a telephone interview.

　　"Of the, say, 1,500 new medicines that have been approved in the last 25 years, only 20 of those have related to the diseases of the developing countries," added Gates, who was to announce the new fund at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

　　"Rich world diseases we've gotten. All the easy ones have been done ... If you look at the focus of the research activity, it's either focused specifically on rich world diseases or it's at a basic level that doesn't directly apply to those problems."

　　According to the Global Forum on Health Research, only 10 percent of medical research centers on the diseases that cause 90 percent of the health burden in the world.

　　The program will be administered by the U.S. National Institutes of Health Foundation and the new fund is heavy on big names in U.S. science.