Protecting Children Against Pneumonia
Two leading drug companies will supply vaccines to the world’s poorest countries at a reduced price.
28 March 2010
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Millions of babies and children could soon be protected against the deadly disease pneumonia. Two leading drug companies have agreed to supply vaccines against pneumococcal disease to the world's poorest countries at a reduced price. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline signed the historic Advance Market Commitment agreement last week. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, or GAVI, helped negotiate the deal. The group says the low cost vaccines could save as many as seven million lives by the year twenty thirty.
The World Health Organization says pneumonia kills almost two million children each year. This is more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. It is the leading cause of death among young children. And, more than ninety percent of those deaths happen in the developing world.
These are all reasons why GAVI chose the pneumococcal vaccine for its first Advance Market Commitment project. The private-public partnerships are designed to increase the availability of low cost vaccines in poor areas.
Last year, the governments of Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Norway joined with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They provided one and a half billion dollars to launch the pneumococcal vaccine project. Jeffrey Rowland is with the GAVI alliance. He says the money helps to persuade drug makers to take part in the project.
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