United Nations is looking to find ways to achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG-4) to significantly reduce the deaths among children in the next five years.

The UN hopes to achieve this through the leadership of the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI), UNICEF and WHO which will join a high-level government representatives from Kenya, Norway and Nicaragua to review new estimates of lives lost to preventable diseases and the potential impact of vaccines and treatments to prevent millions of unnecessary deaths by 2015, and beyond.

The meet is scheduled on September 20 at Labouisse Hall, UNICEF House, New York City.

According to the organizers, in the last decade, the GAVI Alliance and its global partners delivered vaccines against life-threatening childhood diseases to more than 250 million children. But going forward, donor nations would decide the extent of global health partners' ability to play a significant role in helping the world using the existing technologies to protect children who are most at risk of death and disability from the deadliest of infectious diseases.

At the roundtable discussion, world leaders in global health and development would meet to review the experience of individual nations with combating diseases. It will also delve into the cost-effectiveness of vaccines and other life-saving technologies in Africa, Asia and South America. In addition it would look at the potential impact of strong health systems in propelling the world towards achievement of MDG 4.

Participants would include Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization (invited), Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, CEO, GAVI Alliance, Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF, Dr. Raj Shah, Administrator, USAID, Dr. Rose Mugo, Minister of Public Health, Kenya,Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, Minister of Health, Nicaragua and Dr. Tore Godal, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Norway.

The GAVI Alliance is a Geneva-based public-private partnership aimed at improving health in the world's poorest countries. The Alliance will bring together developing country and donor governments, World Health Organization, UNICEF, World Bank, the vaccine industry research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.