UK-INSPIRED AFRICAN VACCINE SCHEME LAUNCHED

A number of European countries, led by the UK, have launched a US$4bn inoculation scheme to provide vaccines for children in Africa and other low-income regions. The funds are to be secured through international loans under a system known as the International Finance Facility For Immunisation (IFFIm).

The project is a favourite of UK finance minister and prime ministerial hopeful Gordon Brown, who expects the plan to save 5mn lives by 2015. Brown has launched IFFIm to support the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which have recently been mired in controversy and dimming hopes of success.

IFFIm's ambitions are far more modest than originally planned, with a lack of support from the US being blamed. Meanwhile, the UK is to contribute around 35% of the programme's funding, but critics complain that it will create heavy long-term costs and obligations. International charities report that even if it succeeds, the plan will be a "drop in the ocean" compared to the volume of vaccinations required to eliminate preventable child deaths in the Third World.