Dutch add $100 million to global vaccines fund

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- The Dutch government Monday pledged around $100 million over five years to support international work to improve availability of vaccines to children threatened by diseases such as hepatitis B.

Dutch Health, Welfare and Sports Minister Els Borst-Eilers announced the contribution at a meeting of the partners of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).

The donation will suport GAVI in providing immunization services in low-income countries and comes after the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines disbursed $150 million in September to help fight disease in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Liberia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Uganda.

GAVI said vaccines save around three million lives every year but it estimates that a further three million lives are lost because they lack immunization.

It said measles , a disease now rare in more developed countries, kills nearly one million children every year, while liver disease caused by hepatitis B kills 900,000.

The Global Fund was launched in November, 1999, with an initial grant of $750 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates is the co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft Corp.

The Global Fund has also received grants from the government of Norway, Britain and the United States.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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National Network for Immunization Information
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - National Immunization Program
American Academy of Pediatrics - Child Health and Safety

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