Gates Foundation pledges $10 billion to develop vaccines
January 30th, 2010 - 4:48 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Jan 30 (IANS) Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have announced that their foundation will commit $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research in developing and delivering vaccines for the world’s poorest countries.
The couple said that increased investment in vaccines by governments and the private sector could help developing countries dramatically reduce child mortality by the end of the decade.
“We must make this the decade of vaccines,” said Gates.
“Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.”
The Gates made their announcement at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos, where they were joined by Julian Lob-Levyt, CEO of the GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation).
“Vaccines are a miracle — with just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime. We’ve made vaccines our number-one priority at the Gates Foundation because we’ve seen firsthand their incredible impact on children’s lives,” said Melinda Gates.
The foundation used a model developed by a consortium led by the Institute of International Programs at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to project the potential impact of vaccines on childhood deaths over the next 10 years.
By significantly scaling up the delivery of life-saving vaccines in developing countries to 90 percent coverage — including new vaccines to prevent severe diarrhea and pneumonia — the model suggests that the deaths of some 7.6 million children under five could be prevented from 2010-2019.
The foundation also estimates that an additional 1.1 million children could be saved with the rapid introduction of a malaria vaccine beginning in 2014, bringing the total number of potential lives saved to 8.7 million.
If additional vaccines are developed and introduced in this decade — such as for tuberculosis — even more lives could be saved. The new funding is in addition to the $4.5 billion that the Gates Foundation has already committed to vaccine research, development and delivery to date across its entire disease portfolio since its inception.
Bill and Melinda Gates said their pledge was inspired by the remarkable progress made on vaccines in recent years.
- Bill Gates pledges $10 billion for vaccines over decade - Jan 29, 2010
- Bill Gates pledge to donate $10 billion for vaccines - Feb 01, 2010
- Pune firm slashes pentavalent vaccine prices 60 percent - Jun 13, 2011
- Britain to donate $1.32 bn to vaccinate poor kids - Jun 13, 2011
- 'India needs to step up vaccination to save its children' - Jun 11, 2011
- Gates Foundation calls for investments for vaccines - May 17, 2011
- Hyderabad foundation gets $100,000 grant for polio vaccine - May 10, 2012
- New WHO data sheds light on two leading causes of pneumonia - Sep 12, 2009
- Bill Gates to visit India this week - Mar 21, 2011
- Bill Gates Foundation Donates $10 Billion For Vaccine - Feb 01, 2010
- New vaccine against pneumonia 'to save thousands of lives' - Jan 25, 2011
- Bill, Melinda Gates donate $10bn for vaccines in developing countries - Jan 30, 2010
- Immunizing kids against diseases key to achieving child survival goals - Sep 22, 2010
- Azad meets Bill, Melinda Gates - Mar 22, 2011
- Gates foundation marks $1.5 billion for mothers - Jun 08, 2010
Tags: bill gates, bloomberg school of public health, child mortality, childhood deaths, davos, deadly diseases, founder bill gates, gates foundation, gavi alliance, global alliance, johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health, malaria vaccine, melinda gates, microsoft founder, poorest countries, rapid introduction, school of public health, vaccines, wife melinda, world economic forum