Developmental vaccine fund gets green light
The international agreement aims to encourage investment in vaccination programmes
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Friday, 09, Feb 2007 02:22
The UK is among a number of countries to have signed up to a new fund aimed at speeding up investment in vaccines for diseases that afflict the world's poorest nations.
At an inauguration in Rome, Gordon Brown joined ministers from Italy, Canada, Russia, Norway, Malawi and Ghana to launch the $1.5 billion (£770 million) Advanced Market Commitment (AMC).
Britain has itself pledged to contribute $485 million (£249 million) towards the fund.
The chancellor also met with Pope Benedict XVI to discuss what can be done to help developing countries cope with preventable diseases.
Mr Brown claims that the first market-based mechanism has the potential to prevent five million deaths by 2030 by encouraging pharmaceutical companies to invest in vaccines via initial subsidies.
"We have come together in a unique and historic global alliance to put innovative finance fully at the service of innovative medicine and to save millions of lives," he said.
"The advanced market mechanism we launch today means that - instead of high costs, low volume drug production as in the past - we can have high volume, low cost production of drugs in the future and ensure that the many will not be denied the medical advances available to the few."
According to government statistics more than 7,000 children aged under five die every day from deaths preventable by vaccination programmes.