Johannesburg (dpa) - The Gavi Alliance, a public-private
foundation based in Geneva, said Tuesday it planned to distribute
vaccines worth more than 1 billion dollars to some of the world's
poorest countries.
Key in the plan are rotavirus vaccines, which will be given to 16
countries to help prevent children deaths from severe diarrhoea. A
further 18 countries are to receive pneumococcal vaccines to protect
against pneumonia.
The two diseases are believed to be responsible for the death of
half a million children each year, mostly in Africa and
Asia.
"We are taking the best tools that exist in the world and are
getting them to children wherever they live," Seth Berkley, the head
of Gavi, said in a phone conference.
The vaccines are to be purchased from leading pharmaceutical
companies.
Copyright 2011 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH