Population Control and Mass Inoculations

Mass Vaccinations Planned for Haiti

January 31, 2010

Sky News - Haiti's government and UN agencies prepared for a mass vaccination drive as potentially deadly diseases sprung up at squalid camps housing earthquake survivors.

The vaccination campaign against measles, tetanus and diphtheria will start next week, World Health Organization spokesman Paul Garwood said, amid heightened efforts to prevent a potential public health calamity.

A vast foreign aid effort is struggling to meet survivors' needs more than two weeks after the disaster, which killed around 170,000 people and left one million homeless and short of food, water and medical attention.

'Several medical teams report a growing caseload of diarrhoea in the last two to three days,' Garwood told reporters in Geneva.

'There are also reports of measles and tetanus, including in resettlement camps, which is worrisome due to the high concentration of people,' he said, adding that just 58 per cent of Haitian infants were immunised before the quake.

He highlighted a 'critical' need for surgeons, with an estimated 30 to 100 amputations being carried out every day in some hospitals, while supplies of anaesthetics and antibiotics were also needed.

The 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12 decimated Haiti's already meagre health system, creating conditions for disease to thrive in the cramped refugee camps.

Only one person in two among the Haitian population of more than nine million people has access to clean drinking water, and only 19 per cent have decent sanitation ...

Amid the uphill aid efforts, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa on Friday was the second foreign leader to visit Haiti since the quake, lending his voice to global calls for more emergency relief and assistance with reconstruction.

'This is a tragedy, a humanitarian tragedy. Haiti at this moment represents the pain of victims but also hope,' Correa said.

He also highlighted what he called the 'imperialism' of aid efforts, echoing criticism levelled by other leftist Latin American leaders.

'They donate first, but most of it goes back to them,' he said at a joint press conference with Haiti's President Rene Preval.

Haitians living in sprawling makeshift camps in the ruins of Port-au-Prince and elsewhere complain that the flood of international aid arriving in the country is trickling down too slowly.

Many are trying to rebuild their lives, with marketplaces springing up on streets around the capital, although business is tough.

But survivors also face rising insecurity, with thousands of criminals on the loose after the main jail collapsed in the quake and reports of rape and violence plaguing the weak and vulnerable.

The deputy head of the UN mission in Haiti, Anthony Banbury, said the United Nations did not want huge tent cities later turning into slums where there was poor sanitation, no security and child abuse.

The United Nations, along with aid agencies and security forces, must 'do things smart, as well as fast, and that's a big challenge for us now', Banbury said.

Gates Makes $10 Billion Vaccines Pledge

January 29, 2010

Tri-city Herald - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world's poorest countries, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said Friday.

Calling upon governments and business to also contribute, they said the money will produce higher immunization rates and aims to make sure that 90 percent of children are immunized against dangerous diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia in poorer nations.

"We must make this the decade of vaccines," Bill Gates said in a statement. "Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before."

Gates said the commitment more than doubles the $4.5 billion the foundation has given to vaccine research over the years.

The foundation said up to 7.6 million children under 5 could be saved through 2019 as a result of the donation. It also estimates that an additional 1.1 million kids would be saved if a malaria vaccine can be introduced by 2014. A tuberculosis vaccine would prevent even more deaths.

"Vaccines are a miracle," said Melinda Gates. "With just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime."

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, called the Gates contribution unprecedented and urged governments and private donors to add to the initiative.

"An additional two million deaths in children under five years could be prevented by 2015 through widespread use of new vaccines and a 10 percent increase in global vaccination coverage," said Chan.

The Gates statement said the foundation would help to dramatically reduce child mortality in the next 10 years and urged others to pitch in with research funding and other financial support for poor children.

Gates noted the announcement comes on the 10th anniversary of the foundation's partner GAVI Alliance, which he praised for its work in immunizing children against killer diseases.

"This is an amazing announcement," GAVI CEO Julian Lob-Leyt said.

Bill and Melinda Gates did not specify how the money would be distributed, and a spokeswoman said that had yet to be decided.

A spokesman for GAVI said the alliance was involved mostly on the distribution end and therefore would receive only part of the money.

Vaccines are usually an effective way to spend money to improve public health, because they can even be delivered in poor countries lacking functioning health systems.

To see more about the World Economic Forum or discuss the topics being talked about, go to AP's World Economic Forum discussion page at http://bit.ly/amY7Sp

Bill Gates Gives to Population Control Fund
Bill Gates Funding Population Control Again
Secret billionaire club seeks population control
Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton back population control
Gates Foundation Commits $40 Million to Improve Reproductive Health in the Developing World
Bill Gates Commits $20 million to Create Institute for Population and Reproductive Health
The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health