First lady named honorary president of Seoul-based vaccine institute

By Lee Joon-seung

SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's first lady on Monday was named the honorary president of a local support committee dedicated to helping an international vaccine institute combat global suffering from infectious diseases.

Kim Yoon-ok accepted the post of the Korea Support Committee (KSC) for the
International Vaccine Institute (IVI), vowing to do her utmost to ensure that
people and children in particular do not die from preventable illnesses.
"Despite advances in medicine, 7 million children are dying from infectious
diseases every year," Kim said in a gathering in southern Seoul to mark the IVI's
11th anniversary.
The first lady also urged more countries of the world to join in global
humanitarian efforts to help cope with such diseases.
IVI is the world's only international research organization devoted exclusively
to developing and introducing new and improved vaccines to protect the world's
poorest people.
It was established as an initiative of the U.N. Development Program in 1997 and
operates under a treaty with 40 countries at the World Health Organization.