09 September 2005

The charity ActionAid today gave a cautious welcome to British chancellor Gordon Brown's $4bn vaccine scheme to save 10 million children's lives in the developing world.

It, though, expressed anxiety that the move – against killer diseases like measles, tetanus, TB and polio - could prove dearer than paying from current aid budgets and may hit other aid before and after 2015.

And the charity urged the British government to use the plan launch to announce that the UK will spend 0.7 per cent of its national income on aid by 2010 - not 2013, the present commitment.

Steve Tibbett, head of ActionAid policy and campaigns, said: "We welcome any announcement of additional resources to help confront the scandal of 30,000 children dying every day in the world's poorest countries.

"Gordon Brown's International Finance Facility for Immunisation is a significant contribution to meeting this challenge.

"However, we are concerned that borrowing from financial markets against future aid commitments is more expensive than providing aid from current budgets.

"An IFF is not a substitute for making faster progress towards the aid target of 0.7%, and must not be allowed to result in a falling off of aid to the poorest countries after 2015.

"The UK government should also use the IFFim launch to announce a bringing forward of the 0.7% aid target from 2013 to 2010."