Vaccine funding: UK to give additional £814m

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/13/vaccine-funding-uk-gives-814m

Britain will donate an additional £814m to vaccinate more than 80 million children, helping to save an estimated 1.4 million lives from common conditions such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, David Cameron has announced.

"Britain will play its full part," he told the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) conference in London, where politicians, charities, private companies and philanthropists including Bill Gates of Microsoft are gathering to plan funding the protection of children in countries too poor to pay for vaccination. Richer countries are being asked to give an extra £2.3bn by 2015.

Gates, who is jointly hosting the conference with Cameron, is pledging $1bn (£600m) towards the campaign.

Cameron said: "In addition to our existing support for Gavi, we will provide £814m of new funding up to 2015. This will help vaccinate over 80 million children and save 1.4 million lives. That is one child vaccinated every two seconds for five years. It is one child's life saved every two minutes. That is what the money that the British taxpayer is putting in will give."