By raising £2.2bn ($4bn) over 10 years they hope to cut the number of deaths from diseases like measles, polio, hepatitis B, tetanus, and diphtheria.
Illnesses from such immunisable diseases kill millions every year.
Critics fear the scheme, first championed by the chancellor in 2003, is a 'buy now, pay later' project."...
The UK has pledged the equivalent of £70m ($130m) each year - 35% of the money for the International Finance Facility for Immunisation.
Mr Brown said the launch had been made possible by recent long-term commitments from other donor countries.
France has pledged the equivalent of $100m (£54m) a year; Italy $30m (£16m) a year; Spain $12m (£6.5m); and Sweden £27m (£15m).
Microsoft magnate Bill Gates has promised a further $750m (£408m) over 10 years through his Gates foundation. ...
The scheme, dubbed Iffim, uses long-term financial commitments to provide "frontloaded" resources for the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (Gavi).
The extra resources are predicted to save the lives of five million children by 2015 and a further five million after that.
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