DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Record numbers of children in poor countries are receiving life-saving vaccines, thanks to a major investment programme backed by the private sector and governments.

Figures released on Friday at the World Economic Forum estimated immunisation funded by the GAVI Alliance in developing countries had avoided some 2.3 million early deaths since 2000.

The total for 2006 alone was 600,000, according to World Health Organisation estimates.

Despite the progress, however, more than 2 million children in poor countries still die each year because they have not received immunisations that are taken for granted in the industrialised world.

Melinda Gates, who with her husband and Microsoft <MSFT.O> founder Bill Gates has committed $1.5 billion to GAVI, said the GAVI partnership was spearheading a major turnaround in children's health.

"When GAVI was founded, immunisation rates in poor countries were on the decline. Today, they are at an all-time high," she said.

GAVI has also received funding from 17 donor governments and has committed $2.6 billion to support national immunisation programmes in more than 70 countries since its inception in 2000.

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