Aid cuts 'Thousands of children will die' if vaccinations affected

Thousands of children in the world's poorest countries will die if the UK cuts back funding for a hugely effective vaccination programme as part of its significant reduction in overseas aid, the Guardian has been told.

- Peter Walker

According to data collated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to which the UK has previously been one of the main contributors, even a small cut in UK funding is expected to result in millions fewer vaccinations, leading to huge numbers of preventable deaths.

The projections, by aid agencies based on Gavi's records and seen by the Guardian, will place more pressure on the government over its plan to hugely reduce overseas aid and use the money to spend on defence.

Yesterday Anneliese Dodds, the international development minister, resigned in protest at the policy.

It comes as the head of the British Council, which is partly financed from the aid budget, urged ministers to ensure they did not erode the UK's diplomatic and cultural soft power.

The projections, dating from before the new cuts, calculated that even if the UK kept its contribution to Gavi steady, rather than a hoped-for increase of 10%, this would lead to the Geneva-based alliance vaccinating 8 million fewer children, about 200,000 of whom would subsequently die.