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Foundation welcomes meningitis vaccine commitment
09 February 2007
National charity Meningitis Research Foundation today welcomed pan-governmental moves to speed up protection against deadly pneumococcal meningitis and septicaemia in developing countries. This could save over 5.4 million children's lives by 2030.
An agreement for a multi-million dollar fund to create a discounted market for drugs in developing countries, an Advance Market Commitment (AMC), was today signed by ministers from Italy, Canada, Norway and Great Britain's Chancellor Gordon Brown at a launch in Rome. The AMC will encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for developing countries and give governments in those countries the purchasing power necessary to obtain the drugs.
The first disease targeted by the agreement is pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcal disease is the second largest killer of children from meningitis and septicaemia and the leading cause of childhood deaths from pneumonia worldwide.
As a member of the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership focused on increasing children's access to vaccines in poor countries, Meningitis Research Foundation's Chief Executive Denise Vaughan, said: "Meningitis Research Foundation is delighted with the signing of the Advance Market Commitment. Pneumococcal meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia kill millions of young children worldwide, and many of these deaths could be prevented by immunisation."
Media Contact: Julia Warren 01454 281811 or 07711 057875