NZ to give $2m to immunise Pacific children and fight aids

New Zealand is giving $2 million over three years towards helping Pacific children.

Government aid agency NZAID would give the money to a United Nationals Children's Fund (UNICEF) initiative, Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Marian Hobbs announced today.

"Children are often the most vulnerable members of communities and this is a real opportunity to make a difference in the lives of Pacific children," she said.

The money would be used to vaccinate children and towards HIV/AIDS prevention in Fiji, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

New Zealand signed up to the agreement in Suva last Friday to support Unicef's Pacific programme for the next three years.

The announcement follows criticism last July when the head of UNICEF's HIV/Aids programme, Peter McDermott, urged New Zealand to boost its overseas assistance to fight the impending threat of an Aids epidemic in Pacific nations.

Since the first known case of HIV/Aids was reported in the Pacific in 1982, the total number of known HIV cases has risen to over 10,000.

- NZPA