Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, will announce today the creation of a $100 million fund to combat four childhood diseases in developing countries, the New York Times reports.

The donation will be made by the William H. Gates Foundation to the Seattle-based nonprofit Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH, the Times reports.

PATH will focus its efforts on four vaccines to fight the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus infection and hepatitis B, a viral liver disease, the Times reports.

The organization estimates these four diseases cause 2.5 million deaths in children each year.

The money will be used to fund ways to establish vaccination programs worldwide, rather than buying the vaccines, the paper reports.

Bill Gates is the world's wealthiest man, with a fortune estimated at $60 billion.

The William H. Gates Foundation has assets of $1.8 billion. It provides grants to education initiatives, world health and family-planning efforts, and civic and arts organizations.

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