On Tuesday, the GAVI Alliance announced that governments and private donors have pledged $7.5 billion to its campaign to vaccinate 300 million children in poor countries against deadly diseases over the next five years. Bill Gates has reportedly pledged the largest for these vaccines with $1.55 billion, followed by $1.5 billion from the British government. The newest Gates contribution brings their total donation to this Geneva-based nonprofit up to $4 billion, which is used to subsidize inoculations in poor countries and use its buying power to negotiate vaccine discounts with drug companies.
Despite the strong U.S. currency complicating dollar-denominated global fundraising efforts, the pledges announced at a Berlin donor conference topped the $7.5 billion goal GAVI set in May. The GAVI Alliance has reached its $7.5 billion goal, exceeding it by $39 million, to vaccinate children over the next five years.
Read on our work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation here.
Featured image via GAVI
Originally posted Jan 28, 2015