Gates backs cervical cancer vaccines for poor

[ckramer]

Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates is putting his financial muscle behind a campaign to get life-saving cervical cancer vaccines to women in poor countries.

Two rival vaccines targeting the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes the disease, are expected to be launched in the next year or two by Merck & Co Inc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

But it is unclear how the novel shots will be funded in the developing world, where most deaths from cervical cancer occur.

In a bid to speed their development and introduction, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had been granted $7 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Gates is doing the good thing. But it's a shame that the tasks of curing the sick and feeding the poor fall on rich individuals but not the government. It's a failure of governments.