Pope Benedict yesterday purchased the first bond issued by the British government to help fund immunisation programs for children in the developing world as the Vatican renews its call to cancel poor countries’ debt.
The Catholic News Agency reports that Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was to fly to London to attend the bond sale on behalf of the Pope.
The International Financing Facility for Immunisation is calling on governments to sell the bonds to finance immunisations against polio, malaria and tuberculosis in the world’s 72 poorest countries.
“Benedict XVI’s gesture, at once real and symbolic, expresses the Holy See’s full support for an initiative which, with broad international guarantees, will produce immediate and direct advantages in the field of aid and development, producing new financing with specific and urgent aims,” says a Vatican communique published yesterday.
The Facility’s anticipated investment of $4 billion is expected to help prevent five million child deaths between 2006 and 2015.
Other countries that have committed to this initiative include France, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Brazil and South Africa have promised to do so soon.
The initiative, which is backed by the World Bank, gets governments that have pledged immunisation aid, to issue bonds for this purpose now. Britain has currently pledged the most funds to the program – 1.38 billion pounds over 20 years.
The money lent by bond purchasers goes straight into the vaccination programs in some 72 of the world’s poorest countries.
Tags: Anti-poverty strategies
