Bill Gates has given $750 million (€579 million), his biggest ever donation, to an alliance dedicated to ending deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases among the poorest children in the world.
The gift ranks as one of the largest donations made by a living philanthropist. It goes to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), which Mr Gates helped to set up in 2000.
It brings the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's donations to GAVI to more than $1.5 billion.
"We can say very strongly that we have never made a better investment," said Mr Gates, named by Forbes magazine as the richest man in the world, with an estimated $46 billion.
The Norwegian government announced a grant of $290 million at the same time, bringing GAVI's new money to more than $1 billion.
Mr and Mrs Gates said they hoped other governments would put in funds to reach the target amount set by the World Health Organisation of $8 billion-$12 billion over ten years, which would allow more than 90 per cent of the world's children to receive immunisation by 2015. - (Reuters)
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