International Finance Facility for Immunization: Vatican to buy the first Share

(February 19, 2009) Following a draft submitted by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in the conference on "Poverty and Globalization: Financing for Development" of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the bonds for International Financing Facility for Immunization, will be open for sale and the first of which will be purchased by Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Vatican department FOR Migrants and Itinerant Preachers, on behalf of the Holy Father in London on Friday 20^th February. Incidentally, Vatican from the beginning has strongly supported the initiative. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation exists to rapidly accelerate the availability and predictability of funds for immunisation. The announced release of a Justice and Peace, which states that "the bonds, purchased by anyone - institutions, organizations and individuals - are guaranteed by various governments, the British first of all but not only, who pay interest and reimburse the amount of bonds at maturity, while the amount of purchases will go directly to those most in need, especially children, for vaccination on a large scale. The gesture of Pope Benedict XVI, real and symbolic at the same time, gave full support of the Holy See to initiative, and with broad international guarantee produce the immediate and direct benefits in the field of development aid, providing new financing with specific and very urgent goal: for the prevention of pandemics and new ones that seemed now eradicated and such as polio, malaria, tuberculosis and so on. The Alliance now works in 72 countries around the world and is able to save the lives of 10 million people, including 5 million children by 2015. "