Aid group calls for more vaccines

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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110604a9.html

The head of a Geneva-based aid group on funding vaccinations in developing countries urged Japan on Friday to make larger financial contributions to saving children's lives in disease-stricken parts of the world.

Helen Evans, interim CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization, who came to Tokyo on Wednesday on a three-day trip, emphasized the importance of financial contributions from Japan.

"There's a huge difference between the rate of immunization in the developed world and developing countries. (In developed countries,) we have access to good health care services, but for many people in developing countries, health care services don't exist, so children often die," she said.

The GAVI Alliance is an international organization set up in partnership with the World Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF and other institutions. According to Evans, the group has saved more than 5 million lives in the past decade by funding children's vaccinations in developing countries.