Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Billions Pledged To Vaccinate World's Poor
Around $4.3bn (£2.6bn) has been pledged worldwide to help vaccinate children from preventable diseases, as David Cameron promised £814m from the UK
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) said the total funding, which has exceeded expectations, will save millions of lives in the next four years.
The Prime Minister made the pledge for extra money at a global conference which aims to save the lives of four million children in some of the world's poorest countries.
It also aims to transform the lives of 250 million more youngsters by the middle of the decade.
The Gavi conference has brought together national governments, private companies, donors and philanthropists, including Microsoft's Bill Gates.
Mr Gates confirmed a new $1bn (£616m) donation to Gavi over the next five years from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Mr Cameron told the conference: "Britain will play its full part.
"In addition to our existing support for Gavi, we will provide £814m of new funding up to 2015.
"This will help vaccinate over 80 million children and save 1.4 million lives.
"That is one child vaccinated every two seconds for five years. It is one child's life saved every two minutes. That is what the money that the British taxpayer is putting in will give."
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