Child Vaccination Gets A Shot In The Arm By The Global Alliance on Vaccines (GAVI)
Bill Gates and the UK Government led donations to the GAVI fund-raising campaign, raising $4.3 billion to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries against preventable diseases.
Bill Gates attended 4 hours of negotiations in London today to help raise the funds as he himself pledged $1 billion to the campaign through his Gates Foundation.
The UK pledged another $1.3 billion on top of it’s existing promises, Norway said that they would give $677 million and the US $450 million. Other countries also pledged future support and drug companies are supplying discounted vaccines.
The UK’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that it was unthinkable that children should continue to die from pneumonia and diarrhoea in 2011.
GAVI estimates that nearly 2 million children die each year from diseases that can be prevented by vaccination, nearly 40% of those are affected by pneumonia and diarrhoea.
Pre-empting any accusations that the UK with a struggling economy and massive debt couldn’t afford such donations, David Cameron said the world couldn’t afford to wait to take action.
There is also a strong argument that vaccines are a ‘safe’ investment, in so far as there is little opportunity for money to be siphoned off by unscrupulous individuals or governments.
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