UAE and Gates Foundation team up for jab scheme

Millions of children in poor countries will be vaccinated against deadly diseases after a deal between Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces receives (left) Bill Gates Chairman of Microsoft at Al Bateen Palace in Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI // Millions of children in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be vaccinated against deadly diseases through a new partnership between Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

About a third of the total US$100 million (Dh367m) fund - $50m from each partner - will go to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) to deliver polio vaccines in the two countries, which are among only four in the world where polio is endemic.

The rest will go towards immunisations against pneumonia, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B, which causes meningitis.

A quarter of the children in Afghanistan do not live to see their fifth birthday because of poor healthcare services and low immunisation levels, while Pakistan's slow recovery from last year's devastating floods and clashes between the Pakistani Army and Taliban fighters have made it difficult for health workers to access many of the country's children, which has caused a drastic increase in polio cases.

Five million children in Afghanistan are expected to be immunised against the six deadly diseases under the partnership, while about 35 million children in both countries will receive oral polio vaccines.

"There is no reason why the challenges facing the people of Afghanistan should be compounded by the devastating impact of preventable diseases, and particularly those affecting children," Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement.

The head of Microsoft Bill Gates said the partnership was struck because Sheikh Mohammed shared his belief that all children deserve a healthy start to life.

"I admire Sheikh Mohammed for his and the UAE's commitments to improving the lives of the most vulnerable children," he said.

It is not the first time that the Gates Foundation, which has donated nearly $14 billion to global health, has worked with the UAE. Dubai Cares signed a memorandum of co-operation with the foundation in 2009 for projects aimed at improving the health and education of children in countries chosen by the UN as poverty reduction targets.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Presidential Affairs, met with Mr Gates at the Presidential Palace yesterday to discuss the possibility of establishing other joint charity projects.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have been receiving aid from the UAE amid natural disasters, chronic poverty and underdevelopment. The UAE donated more than Dh1.26bn in aid to Afghanistan in 2009, including grants administered by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. Pakistan, meanwhile, received Dh1.6bn from UAE donors after flooding displaced more than 20 million people.

Schools, medical clinics, mosques, wells, a university and a major hospital have been built in Afghanistan since 2003 through organisations such as the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA).

In Pakistan, meanwhile, the Government contributed about Dh400m to health projects in 2009 alone, while the RCA gave more than Dh20.5m. The RCA and Unicef launched campaigns last year to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of the country's women and children against diseases including measles and polio.

The UAE was one of the first countries to respond with relief efforts after Pakistan's floods, stocking helicopters with more than 100 tonnes of supplies to some of the worst-hit parts of the country.

The Emirates is also the first non-western nation in the global Top 10 humanitarian aid donors per head of population, according to figures published last month by Global Humanitarian Assistance, a group that monitors the distribution of charitable aid from governments.

Overall foreign aid from the UAE peaked in 2009 at Dh3.15bn. That figure combines humanitarian aid, debt relief and funds to support reconstruction efforts, and represents a ten-fold increase from 2008.

Other countries that have received significant portions of humanitarian aid include Sudan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Morocco, Somalia and Mauritania.

Pentavalent vaccine and the new pneumococcal vaccine will be delivered to Afghanistan through the GAVI Alliance, the largest recipient of funding from the Gates Foundation. The remaining $34m will go towards Unicef's fund for polio vaccines. Although the crippling disease has been reduced by 99 per cent worldwide in the past two decades, it is still prevalent in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.

Projects the UAE has contributed to in Afghanistan through groups such as the Red Crescent Authority (RCA):

• 11 schools educating 300 students per day
• Six medical clinics that have treated 35,000 Afghan patients
• Zayed University, Afghanistan, serving more than 6,400 students per year
• A major hospital with an annual capacity of 7,000 patients
• 38 mosques each providing a prayer service for more than 300 people
• A public library serving more than 400 students and visitors per day
• Accommodation in Zayed City, in Kabul, for 200 displaced families
• 160 wells providing healthy drinking water.

Read Bill Gates's statement here.