Public and private donors have committed $4.3 billion in funding for the immunisation of more than 250 million of the world’s poorest children. The new pledges brought the total resources available to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) for 2011-15 to $7.6 billion.
The pledging conference in London was hosted by the UK government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A portion of the pledges were conditional upon the raising of additional funding from new donors in future. Significant new donors included Anglo American, an international mining company, and the charity Absolute Return for Kids (ARK).
Manufacturers announced that they would offer lower prices on a range of lifesaving vaccines supported by GAVI, including a two-thirds reduction on the rotavirus vaccine, used in combating deaths by diarrhoea. The manufacturers were urged to expand on their promises to reduce prices and to provide greater access.
