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Embargoed
until 15:15 local time (ECT), 14:15 (GMT) 31 January 2000
PRESS
RELEASE
Contact:
Lisa Jacobs,
GAVI Secretariat
41.22.909.50.42 (Geneva)
Gavi@unicef.org
Yasmin Zaman
212-326-7506 (NYC)
Yzaman@unicef.org
CHILDREN’S IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AT
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Gates Foundation money to spur fight against preventable diseases
Davos/New York, 31 January - A global alliance of business leaders,
philanthropic foundations, development banks, UN agencies and national
governments today urged the world’s economic powerbrokers to view
children as the key to sustainable human development, and said that
millions of young lives could be saved each year through an ambitious
new campaign to immunize all the world’s children.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, known as GAVI,
officially launched the vaccination campaign today at the World Economic
Forum. Calling the campaign "The Children’s Challenge", the members of
GAVI argued that children have a right to good health and that
protecting the world’s children against preventable diseases was not
only a moral imperative, but an essential cornerstone of a healthy,
stable world society.
"Businesses, governments and philanthropists should work together to
provide the life-saving vaccines that we take for granted to children
around the world," Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation said. "Every child deserves access to these vaccines, and
millions of lives can be saved. We can, and we should, do this
together."
Late last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation paved the way for
the launch of the Children’s Challenge by donating US$750 million over
five years to establish the Vaccine Fund for Children’s Vaccines. The
Vaccine Fund is one of the financial tools GAVI will use to save
children’s lives through improved immunization. GAVI is seeking
additional large donations from the public and private sector. U.S. Vice
President Al Gore recently announced plans to ask Congress for US$50
million to support the objectives of the Children’s Challenge.
"Nearly three million children worldwide still die needlessly each year
of vaccine-preventable illnesses," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland,
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the chair of
GAVI. "For only US $17 per child, we can provide lifetime protection
against the six historical scourges - polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis,
pertussis, measles and tetanus. And for not much more, we can extend the
protection to include hepatitis B, yellow fever and Haemophilus
influenzae type b (Hib), the leading cause of pneumonia and
meningitis."
In launching the Children’s Challenge, the GAVI partners outlined three
main inequities that need to be addressed in order to achieve the goal
of universal immunization:
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the 30 million children born every year in poor countries who are
still not receiving the ‘basic six’ immunizations;
-
the growing disparity in the number of vaccines available to children
in industrialized and developing countries; and
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the lack of investment in vaccine research and development for
diseases that are prevalent in poorer countries, particularly
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
"Extending the right to protection against preventable disease to all
children, poor and rich, is not only a fundamental human right, it also
makes good business sense," said James D. Wolfensohn, President of the
World Bank Group. "Ill health is one of the primary causes for an
individual or family’s slide into poverty. If globalization is going to
work, it must work for all the world’s children. That is the underlying
meaning of the Children’s Challenge. It is imperative to ensure that all
societies can enjoy the good health necessary for full participation in
the global economy."
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy added that, "The success of the
Children’s Challenge depends on a firm commitment by leaders of the
private and public sectors to support the right of every child to the
fullest protection against preventable disease that medical science can
provide. The same resolve that markets products in poor rural villages,
and sends television programming into the most remote corners of the
world, can surely overcome all the usually cited barriers to universal
immunization."
Other leaders also emphasized the numerous positive consequences of the
GAVI initiative.
In comments at the launch, Joaquim Chissano, President of Mozambique,
said: "In the developing world, funds are scarce and priorities
difficult to assign. However, it is clear that immunization of our
children is a critical precondition to ending poverty and establishing a
healthy and productive population."
Business leaders from the vaccine/pharmaceutical industry promised to
accelerate the delivery of available but underutilized vaccines for
yellow fever, hepatitis B and Hib. These diseases claim over a million
lives each year in the developing world and improving access to
effective vaccines is a major goal of GAVI.
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, a member of the GAVI Executive Board, underlined
his industry’s commitment to do its part. "As global corporations,
employers, and suppliers of vaccine, the pharmaceutical industry as
represented by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) has taken a far-sighted role in
support of the Children’s Challenge," he said. "Individual companies
that are participating in the GAVI efforts have pledged to continue to
provide vaccines of the highest quality and to actively develop new
breakthrough vaccines."
Hope was also expressed that the Children’s Challenge campaign would
result in accelerated development of vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis
and HIV/AIDS.
Canada’s Minister for International Cooperation, Maria Minna, will
represent Canada on the GAVI Board. Minister Minna welcomed the new
initiative as a major contribution to improving the lives of children
around the world. "There is no better way to ensure the success of a
developing country than to invest in their children. This is one of my
top priorities at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
and I intend to commit my energy and resources to ensure the world’s
children receive the protection they deserve."
Other governments also indicated their support for GAVI. "The Dutch
government is very interested in becoming involved with the Children’s
Challenge by providing support to GAVI," said GAVI Board Member Dr. Els
Borst-Eilers, Minister of Health and Vice Prime Minister of the
Netherlands. "Not only does vaccination have a clear connection to
poverty reduction, but increased immunization rates in one country also
reduce the spread of disease to any country in the global village, and
GAVI is an exciting new strategy for achieving this progress."
In summing up the achievements of Davos 2000, Klaus Schwab, President
of the World Economic Forum, expressed particular satisfaction that GAVI
and the Children’s Challenge were introduced to world business leaders
at this year’s event. "Business leadership in the new millennium
requires a vision that is more acute and far-reaching than in the past,"
he said. "I am confident that all participants attending this year’s
event will do all they can to help realise the great promise of the
Children’s Challenge."
GAVI was formed in 1999 to coordinate a global network of international
development organizations, national governments, multilateral
development banks, philanthropic organizations, private sector leaders
and others in re-energizing the world’s commitment to vaccines and
immunization. GAVI sees immunization as a fundamental cornerstone of
global health, a key component of economic development, and an essential
first step in enabling each child to reach his or her fullest physical
and intellectual potential.
The GAVI secretariat is housed in the UNICEF Offices for Europe in
Geneva, Switzerland, with ongoing coordination and communication
responsibilities. The Executive Secretary is Dr. Tore Godal, a public
health physician who has many years of experience with the World Health
Organization.
GAVI
Secretariat, c/o UNICEF, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: 41 22 909 5019 Fax: 41 22 909 5931 Email:
Gavi@unicef.org
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