Vaccine Plan Aims to Spur Development for Poor Nations
A group of wealthy nations is launching a first-of-its-kind program designed to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases common to poor countries.
The 1,5 billion US dollar program marks a departure from previous charitable efforts to increase poor countries access to vaccines.
Instead of buying existing drugs and giving them away, the donors will guarantee pharmaceutical companies a future market big enough to justify developing and manufacturing new vaccines needed in nations too impoverished to afford them on their own.
The finance ministers of current G8 host Italy, as well as of Canada and Russia signed off on the new project at a ceremony in Lecce in southern Italy Sunday.
The current pneumococcal vaccine is sold at over 70 dollar in industrialised countries. Thanks to the new programme, the long-term price for developing countries is estimated at 3,5 dollar.
Britain, Italy, Canada, Russia, Norway and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are investing in the project, which is being run by the World Bank, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the international vaccine agency GAVI alliance.
The program aims to prevent more than 7 million deaths by 2030.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
