BEN MACLENNAN, Cape Town | Thursday
THE 4 000 children that die worldwide every day from preventable diseases are a ”collective crisis of conscience for governments”, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Thursday.
Speaking at an international conference in Cape Town on financing for vaccines, he said the wide unevenness in access to vaccines reflected many of the core issues of the international order.
”The tragedy of our times is that despite the low cost and cost effectiveness of vaccinations, and despite the fact that no argument –medical, sociological or political can be offered against it, too many countries are too poor to provide this service.”
He said a number of sub-Saharan countries were able to contribute only between $1 and $2 per capita to finance health services every year.
Manuel said it was estimated that an additional %1,5-billion would be required to give all children full vaccination coverage, which would cost donor countries only $6 for every $100 000 of their wealth.
”We must now up the campaign for overseas development aid either directly to countries or through intermediaries like the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation,” he said.
”The 4 000 deaths a day is our collective crisis of conscience.”
Manuel said he had just returned from the United States where corporate donors had promised $1-million for young South Africans to study medicine.
He said he could not understand why a society where corporate and individual citizens were so generous was so tolerant of low levels of ”national giving”.
The US devoted only 0,1% of GDP to overseas development aid.
A rich country like the US should spend less on military capability and more on aid, he said.
On Wednesday night Graca Machel speaking at the opening of the conference said the world’s leaders had failed to fulfil their promises to meet the needs of the world’s children.
She said children were ”precious gifts”, and they had rights which adults had pledged to protect.
These included the right to survival, to highest attainable standards of health, and to secure futures.
”Our leaders have made these pledges many times,” she said. ”The problem is that we make these promises and fail to fulfil them. We have been giving beautiful speeches, negotiating phrases and making noble-sounding pledges — but we have failed to deliver for the world’s children.
”In the process we have been playing with children’s lives, negotiating away their futures, and ours.”
Machel, who was speaking in her capacity as vice-chairman of the international Vaccine Fund, said that every year more than three million people died from diseases easily preventable through vaccination. – Sapa