By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 14.04.2008 (IPS): While millions of children’s lives have been saved as a result of a successful worldwide campaign to boost vaccination programmes, governments across the world are failing in following through on their commitments to health aid and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
‘’Wealthy countries such as the G8 members continue to content themselves with largely symbolic gestures. We have to make sure that the pledge made by governments (on MDGs) is followed,” eminent medical scientist Gustav Nossal told IPS.
Global resources for fighting AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria now total eight billion US dollars a year. “The amount should be several times more than this. After all, we are only talking about the price of a couple of jet fighters. That’s all you need to save several million lives,” says Nossal, warning that despite the generosity of wealthy philanthropists and ordinary citizens governments needed their “hands held to the flame”.