LONDON – International donors pledged $4.3 billion (€3bn) yesterday to buy vaccines to protect children in poor countries against potential killers such as diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia.
The funding should allow more than 250 million of the world’s poorest children to be vaccinated by 2015, helping to prevent more than four million premature deaths, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immun- isation said. The World Health Organisation says vaccination is one of the most cost-effective public health measures. It estimates that two to three million deaths are averted each year with immunisation. – (Reuters)
