Wednesday, Jan 26, 2005
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By Sarah Boseley
LONDON, JAN. 25. Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, has given $750 millions, his biggest ever donation, to an alliance dedicated to ending deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases among the poorest children in the world. The gift, which is announced today, ranks as one of the largest donations made by a living philanthropist. It goes to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), which Mr. Gates helped to set up in 2000. It brings the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's donations to GAVI to more than $1.5 billion. ``We can say very strongly that we have never made a better investment,'' said Mr. Gates, named by Forbes magazine as the richest man in the world and worth an estimated $46 billions.
Norway's grant
The Norwegian Government announced a grant of $290 millions at the same time, bringing GAVI's new money to more than $1 billion. In an interview with the Guardian at Microsoft's Seattle headquarters, Mr. and Mrs. Gates said they hoped other Governments would put in funds to reach the target set by the World Health Organisation of $8 billion-$12 billions over 10 years, which would allow more than 90 per cent of the world's children to receive immunisation by 2015. ``Today, a child's access to life-saving vaccines too often depends on where he or she lives in the world, and that's unacceptable,'' Mrs. Gates said. ``Vaccines taken for granted in rich countries still don't get to millions of children in the developing world. It's time for donors, both public and private, to dramatically step up their efforts to close the immunisation gap.''
Call for more help
Mr. Gates called for more Governments to help, and praised the U.K. He also praised the International Finance Facility (IFF) proposed by the British Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to raise money to alleviate poverty and disease in poor countries. GAVI is expected to be the pilot project for the IFF. Government-backed bonds will be floated on financial markets to raise money for vaccines and research. GAVI is an alliance of governments, U.N. agencies, NGOs, foundations and other institutions. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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