UK Pledges More Money to Fund Child Vaccines

Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged £814m to support the vaccination of the world’s poorest children. The plan was recently announced at a London summit as more countries were asked to increase their aid funding by an extra £2.3bn.

The UK has already pledged £2bn over the past 30 years; however, an increase of £814m in the next four years will help vaccinate up to 80 million children, saving one child’s life every two minutes.

It is estimated that three times as many children die from pneumonia than any other disease, and it is believed that the rise of international funding will prevent the loss of 1.4 millions lives.

With this increase in aid, it is predicted that that one child will be saved every two minutes.

As well as increasing the amount of vaccinations, funds will also be spent on the attempts to reach poorer children who have been denied access to basic vaccines, such as measles and tetanus.

Speaking at a conference for The Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), Mr Cameron acknowledged that his new pledge may be seen as “controversial.” At a time of mass spending cuts at home, many believe that the money would be better spent elsewhere. However, Mr Cameron claims that this new commitment has a “strong moral case” and Britain’s promise to the world’s poorest must be upheld.

Mr Cameron also made clear that throughout this new development there will be an increase in direct channels, ensuring aid money will go straight to those who need it most. He claims the British government are “shining the spotlight on aid funding like never before”. Any organisations which receive aid from the UK are required to publish the use and outcome of their funds.

Mr Cameron’s pledge has been supported by many sources outside of politics. Businessman and Microsoft tycoon, Bill Gates, has praised the UK Prime Minister for his pledge to the campaign, commemorating it as a “very important day”.

Also at the GAVI conference, Mr Gates championed the achievement of “vaccine equality”. All vaccines are “magic”, he claimed and the poorest should be in reach of them also.

It was also announced that GAVI will be pledging an extra billion dollars to fund child vaccines over the next five years. An “exciting” commitment Mr Gates admits, for a worthy cause.

By Catherine Rees

[Image courtesy of DFID]