ABU DHABI – Bill Gates and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince pledged $100 million on Wednesday to deliver vaccines to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan each will give $50 million to provide vaccines for five common but deadly childhood diseases while one third of the funds would be used to get the polio vaccine for as many as 35 million children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Gates said the initiative would take advantage of the United Arab Emirates’ familiarity with delivering aid to two countries hit by violence and natural disasters and added that one in four Afghan children dies before its fifth birthday. Gates’ foundation focuses on health in developing countries and targets the common diseases with high mortality rates such as malaria.
