Bill and Melinda Gates announced that a commitment to research could save more than 8 million children by 2020…
By Militza Richard
Bill and Melinda Gates announced today that their foundation will spend $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries.
The Gateses’ commitment, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is the largest pledge ever made by a charitable foundation to a single cause, says The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.
The Garteses called for governments and the private sector to help fill crucial financing gaps in both research funding and childhood immunization programs, saying that increased investment in vaccines could help developing countries dramatically reduce child mortality by the end of the decade. By increasing immunization coverage in developing countries to 90 percent, it should be possible to prevent the deaths of 7.6 million children under five between 2010 and 2019, Bill Gates told reporters.
“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 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.
Vaccines are a miracle—with just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime,” said Melinda Gates. “We’ve made vaccines our number-one priority at the Gates Foundation because we’ve seen firsthand their incredible impact on children’s lives.”
Since its inception in 1994, the Microsoft (MSFT.O) co-founder's foundation has committed $4.5 billion to vaccines and has been instrumental in establishing the GAVI alliance, a public-private partnership that channels money for vaccines in poor countries.
For the full press release from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, please visit: Bill and Melinda Gates Pledge $10 Billion in Call for Decade of Vaccines
Edited by Sarah Wolfe