{"id":33241,"date":"2014-11-29T00:46:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T16:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=33241"},"modified":"2014-12-01T01:54:11","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T17:54:11","slug":"in-senegal-harper-announces-500-million-in-vaccination-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/29\/in-senegal-harper-announces-500-million-in-vaccination-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"In Senegal, Harper announces $500 million in vaccination aid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Facebook Page of PM Stephen Harper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DAKAR, Senegal — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has earmarked $500 million to a program aimed at providing vaccines for impoverished children around the world, in the hopes of spurring other rich countries to follow suit.<\/p>\n

Harper made the announcement Friday in Senegal, where he is attending this weekend’s summit of la Francophonie, a network of 56 French-speaking countries.<\/p>\n

The money is part of a $3.5-billion fund the Conservatives announced last May at a summit in Toronto aimed at financing Canada’s maternal, newborn and child health strategy from 2016-2020.<\/p>\n

“By ensuring that children are protected from preventable disease, we are making a vital difference in the long-term health of children around the world,” Harper said at a health centre in suburban Dakar.<\/p>\n

He was accompanied by the Senegalese prime minister, Mohammed Dionne, and by Dr. Seth Berkley, chief executive of the Gavi Alliance, a global health partnership and the recipient of Friday’s funding.<\/p>\n

The alliance called last May for funds so it could immunize an additional 300 million children against a variety of diseases and save an estimated five to six million young lives.<\/p>\n

Canada has already committed $325 million for the 2011-2015 funding base of the vaccine alliance, and Harper said Friday that $20 million of that will go towards giving the rotavirus vaccine to children in Central and West African francophone countries.<\/p>\n

Harper also expressed Canada’s support for Dionne’s new Senegalese vaccination campaign against the rotavirus, which causes diarrhea and killed 450,000 children worldwide in 2008.<\/p>\n

But Harper said Gavi needs a donation replenishment if it is going to continue to be effective.<\/p>\n

“I’m confident that the vaccine alliance will meet its goals of delivering vaccines to another quarter of a billion children, thereby preventing 4 million unnecessary deaths by 2015. But the alliance is now at the stage where it needs to replenish its resources for the 2016-2020 period,” Harper said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, in January, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be hosting a G7 event with the main aim to raise $7.5 billion (U.S.) for the alliance’s 2016-2020 strategy.<\/p>\n

Canada’s $500-million should get the ball rolling, Harper said Friday.<\/p>\n

“I want to encourage other countries, especially our G7 friends, to follow suit,” the prime minister said.<\/p>\n

Harper has made helping young mothers and newborns in developing countries his signature aid priority.<\/p>\n

Co-operating with Gavi — a partnership of private and public-sector stakeholders involved in immunization — fits well with his agenda. By narrowly targeting Canada’s aid at specific problems, Harper hopes to be able to make a measurable difference in the health and welfare of mothers and children in poor countries.<\/p>\n

Harper noted that vaccinations were a key driver behind the global reduction of child deaths from 12 million to 6.6 million between 1990 and 2012.<\/p>\n

Gavi is just one of four main recipients of Canada’s maternal and child health funding.<\/p>\n

“Canada’s strong commitment to Gavi will save the lives of children in developing countries,” Berkley said in a release.<\/p>\n

“We share Prime Minister Harper’s determination to see a world free from preventable deaths and we are playing our part by working to ensure that children have access to lifesaving vaccines no matter where they live.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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