New York, NY-Anti-poverty group ONE welcomed two announcements today that will bolster smart efforts taking aim at preventable diseases in poor countries: an extra $1 billion in support of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and a new airline ticket program allowing airline customers to voluntarily contribute $2 each time they fly to help fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

“We know that when we take aim at preventable diseases and partner with poor countries in smart ways, we get results measured in saved lives,” said ONE President and CEO David Lane. “These announcements mean lifesaving treatments will be able to reach more people, and essential vaccines will be distributed to target more diseases. This is great news, especially in these difficult economic times, and it will help build upon the health successes accomplished in many poor countries in recent years.”

The $1 billion in additional support for GAVI was announced today by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown. GAVI funds major programs to protect children from preventable diseases, such as pneumonia, measles, meningitis and diarrheal diseases. GAVI will use the additional funding not only to support and distribute more vaccinations to save more children’s lives from these diseases, but also to improve health systems in comprehensive ways in poor countries.

The GAVI announcement comes on the heels of a report released last week by UNICEF that found the number of children dying before their fifth birthdays each year had been cut to the lowest level ever on record-8.8 million. This progress was largely thanks to scaled up support for relatively inexpensive solutions, many of which GAVI supports, such as measles vaccinations, vitamin supplements, anti-malaria mosquito nets, rehydration tablets and improved prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. However, the report also found that although great gains were made thanks to the targeting of many major diseases, a lack of investment in pneumonia and diarrheal diseases have made them the two main causes of children’s deaths worldwide. Vaccines that could prevent the 3 million deaths from these two diseases will be available soon at greatly reduced costs through GAVI. Though the extra $1 billion will allow GAVI to pay for more vaccines and immunizations of these leading killers, other donors must step forward to support the distribution of these vaccines or we will not have the resources to get these vaccines to the children that need them.

“Last week we saw evidence of big progress in child mortality-10,000 fewer children are dying each day than in 1990,” said Lane. “But we also saw where the world is falling short. We know how to stop deaths from pneumonia and diarrheal diseases, but these conditions are the biggest killers of children under five. Today’s GAVI announcement is an important step to accelerate progress in areas where we’ve seen big results, but will also target more diseases that so far have not been targeted and that needlessly take the lives of children.”

The new airline ticket program was announced today by the U.N. agency UNITAID, which is attached to the World Health Organization and helps reduce the costs of treatment for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, making these lifesaving medicines available to those that need them. The initiative, which allows airline customers to voluntarily donate $2 to help fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa each time they buy an airline ticket, is backed by several major travel industry companies, the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Recipients of the donations will include UNICEF and the Clinton Foundation. In addition to targeting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the money will also help improve maternal health and reduce child mortality. The initiative will start at airports and ticketing agencies in January 2010.

“Paying $2 to help save lives in the fight against preventable disease sure beats baggage fees,” Lane said. “This is another innovative way to get involved and be part of the solution to global poverty and disease.”

The airline ticket program will help strengthen global disease-fighting efforts, which in recent years have helped deliver historic results. For example, efforts to fight global AIDS have helped put nearly 4 million people living with HIV worldwide on lifesaving medicines, up from just 50,000 people in 2002. Efforts to distribute anti-malaria bed nets and relatively inexpensive treatments has led to millions more people surviving malaria and the halving of malaria rates in countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia. These investments have incorporated more measures of accountability and transparency in recent years, and worked in closer partnership with recipient governments and NGOs on the ground.

The two announcements came as the U.N. General Assembly and the Clinton Global Initiative met in New York.