$60 Million for Vaccines
With two million children worldwide
still dying each year from vaccine-preventable diseases,
Congress has directed USAID to provide $58 million
to improve and expand children's immunization programs
in developing countries.
The funding will be provided directly
to The Vaccine Fund, a public-private partnership
created in 1999 as the financing arm of the Global
Alliance of Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). In
addition, USAID will spend nearly $2 million in direct
support of the GAVI objectives in countries lagging
in immunization coverage.
As a result of GAVI and the Vaccine
Fund, 71 countries are now receiving funding for
health infrastructure, vaccines, and supplies; it
is estimated that 300,000 deaths will be prevented.
GAVI estimates that countries have
been able to provide basic vaccination to 8.3 million
children who would otherwise have not been reached
with any vaccines.
The total U.S. contribution to
GAVI over the past three years is nearly $160 million.
Read
the July/August 2003 Issue of Frontlines [PDF, 2.2MB]
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