Innovation award aims to celebrate successful vaccine initiatives in the developing world

Bill Gates has launched an award to celebrate innovation in the field of vaccination health care in the developing world. The award scheme hopes to build on the outstanding progress of NGOs and the health industry, working in partnership in recent years. The Gates Vaccine Innovation Award is open to individuals from any discipline from non-profit organisations as well as academic institutions, governments, and the health industry. Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire, confirmed last year he was taking on a full-time charity role on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The entrepreneur and philanthropist has been at the spearhead of conjoining international cooperation and creating innovative partnership solutions to world poverty, including in the field of funding and the enabling of large-scale vaccination programmes in developing counties. Nominations for the Gates Vaccine Innovation Award will be accepted until August 31, 2012. Speaking at the World Health Assembly last year Gates put it like...