Spain pledges funds for vaccines

Spain's president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced today that Spain is to give 240 million dollars over the next twenty years to help finance vaccines for five million children in poverty-stricken countries. Zapatero, speaking to delegates at a meeting of the UN Development Fund said "the Spanish people believe that is is possible to build a world without poverty, and that to reach this aim is not utopia because we have the means to achieve it".

The Spanish president said that Spain would contribute 9 million euros per year from 2006 to 2025 as part of the programme Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization an initiative of the UK, Spain, France, Italy and Sweden. The aim of the Global Alliiance is to save the life of 5 million children in the next 20 years.

Zapatero said that Spain would have an active role in getting other countries to forgive the debt of the World's poorest countries. "The war against poverty is the most noble war that can be fought by humanity, and Spain wants to participate in the front line of this war", the Spanish president said.