$1 billion from Norway, Gates Foundation for 10 years of vaccines welcomed by UNICEF

Major new donations from the Government of Norway and the Gates Foundation to an immunization fund will give children in the six dozen poorest countries access to newer, more expensive vaccines over the next 10 years, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said today.

"This contribution is an extraordinary gift to children. We hope that the leadership of the Gates Foundation and Norway inspires other donors to step forward with multi-year commitments," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said.

"Immunization in some ways is taken for granted these days, yet it remains one of the most dynamic and evolving fields in public health," she added.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave $750 million and Norway $290 million to support the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), for which UNICEF does the buying.

GAVI was launched in 2000 to try to stop 2 million deaths a year in developing countries from diseases for which inoculations exist. It is one of several important immunization initiatives, UNICEF said, such as the partnerships for measles and maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination and the global partnership for polio eradication.