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Press Release
Cambodia
First Country in Southeast Asia to Receive Vaccines from Vaccine Fund
SIEM REAP,
Cambodia, Aug. 17 – Building upon its unprecedented effort to support
immunization programs in developing countries, the Vaccine Fund will
launch a multi-country five-year initiative in Cambodia on 19 August, to
increase access to immunization for children throughout Southeast Asia.
Leaders of the global vaccination effort will be joined by Cambodian
government officials at the Poh Mean Chey Health Center in Siem Reap,
Cambodia, where they will witness the historic beginning of a campaign
that is expected to affect the lives of millions of children throughout
the region.
In
collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
(GAVI) and the Cambodian Ministry of Health, the Vaccine Fund will hand
over its first grant of vaccines in Southeast Asia. The Fund’s initial
investment in Cambodia of $296,000 will be used to purchase a
combination vaccine against hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, and
pertussis (DTP-hepB).
"With this
trip, the Vaccine Fund begins fulfilling the promise of longer,
healthier lives for impoverished children throughout Southeast Asia,"
said Jacques-Francois Martin, President of the Vaccine Fund. Martin will
be joined in Siem Reap by GAVI Chairwoman and UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy, and United States Congressman Jim Kolbe. After presenting
the first shipment of the new combination DTP-hepB vaccine to Siem Reap
Governor Chap Nhalyvoud and Cambodian Minister of Health Hong Sun Huot,
the delegation will witness the beginning of the Southeast Asia campaign
as children receive the first inoculation.
Cambodia is
the second poorest country in Southeast Asia, with an annual GDP per
capita of only US$260. According to UNICEF, 8.6% of Cambodian children
die before reaching their first birthday, and roughly 44,000 children
under the age of 5 die each year. According to UNICEF and the World
Health Organization, only 64 percent of Cambodia's children have been
immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis – leaving fully a
third without the benefit of basic vaccines which parents of children in
industrialized nations take for granted.
In addition
to Cambodia, the Vaccine Fund has announced more than $3.5 million in
funding for vaccinations in neighboring Laos and Viet Nam. Laos has been
approved to receive an initial award of $1.143 million for DTP-hepB
vaccine. Only 56% of Laos’ children currently receive basic DTP
vaccines. The Fund's $2.375 million investment in Viet Nam will also go
toward increasing hepB vaccination coverage, which most Vietnamese
children do not currently receive.
"The
children of Cambodia represent only a fraction of those throughout
Southeast Asia who lack routine vaccinations," said Martin. "Simply
because a child is born into poverty does not mean they have any less of
a right to the medicines that can help guarantee a longer, more
productive life than a child born elsewhere. Through this effort we can
not only begin to reduce this disparity, but allow these children, as
healthy adults, to contribute to their nation’s economic growth."
The Vaccine
Fund was launched last year with a grant of $750 million from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation. Since then, 5 countries – Denmark, The
Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States – have
contributed an additional $250 million to the Fund's effort to address
the immunization needs of the world's poorest countries. The Vaccine
Fund has already committed more than $600 million to government
immunization programs in 36 developing countries, providing financing
needed to upgrade immunization services and purchase new and under-used
vaccines.
GAVI is an
unprecedented public-private partnership that includes UNICEF, the World
Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the pharmaceutical industry,
governments of both industrialized and developing countries, and
philanthropic organizations (including the Gates and Rockefeller
Foundations). After receiving applications from governments, GAVI’s
Board makes recommendations to the Vaccine Fund to allocate resources
where they can have the greatest impact on the health and well-being of
the developing world's children.
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