MOZAMBIQUE on Friday became the first African nation to receive children’s vaccines under a global campaign launched in January at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The first delivery of some 1.3m doses of a vaccine against hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough were accepted by the government at a ceremony in Boane, 22km north of Maputo. Health Minister Francisco Songane, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) executive director Carol Bellamy, and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) president Jacques-Francois Martin attended the ceremony, as did Bill Gates Senior, father of the Microsoft billionaire. Mozambique is one of 75 countries eligible for the GAVI effort, which was launched in Davos with a $750m donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. – AFP