UK announces cash boost for vaccines and free health care in poor countries

The UK government announced last week that it will invest £150m (€165m; $230m) over 10 years in the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) and £5m to launch a centre of expertise to help countries provide free health care. The announcement, made at a meeting at the UK Department for International Development of experts in global health and development, comes amid growing concern in the global health community that the United Nations’ millennium development goals on child and maternal health (goals 4 and 5) will not be met without concerted global action ( BMJ 2010;340:c431, doi: 10.1136/bmj.c431). The United Nations Development Programme has been studying progress on these goals in 30 countries, and its final report will be published shortly. Its study, discussed at the meeting, found that only seven countries are on track to reach the …