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More About GAVI
GAVI and The Vaccine Fund: Two Years of Progress
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
(GAVI) was formed in 1999 as a public-private partnership focused
on increasing children's access to vaccines. Partners in the Alliance
include national governments from developing and industrialized
countries, UNICEF, WHO, The World Bank Group, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation and other foundations, the vaccine industry, research
and public health institutions and nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs).
GAVI was formed at a time when immunization levels
were dropping in many countries and some preventable diseases were
making a comeback. By joining together in this Alliance, the partners
are striving to use their collective strength to reverse the decline,
and to make life-saving immunization available to every child.
To help meet the GAVI immunization goals, The Vaccine
Fund was created as a financing mechanism designed to raise new
resources and swiftly channel them to developing countries' health
systems. The Vaccine Fund makes available financial support to strengthen
infrastructure; introduce new and under-used vaccines and associated
safe injection equipment; and provide safe injection equipment for
all vaccines given according to the standard EPI schedule.
At the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2000,
the world's 74 poorest countries were invited to submit proposals
to The Vaccine Fund. Since that time, 66 of the eligible countries
have submitted proposals, and 54 countries have been awarded support.
Over the past two years, the partners in the Alliance
have:
- Committed more than USD 800 million from The Vaccine
Fund to 54 developing country government health programs over
five years ...
... If the countries reach the targets they have set, basic
immunization rates in these countries will rise by 17 percentage
points and coverage of hepatitis B vaccine will increase from
18 to 65 percent by 2007, ultimately saving more than two million
lives.
- Delivered new and under-used vaccines to 27 countries
and transferred funds to support national immunization programs
in 24 countries.
- Created a viable market in poor countries for simple-to-use
vaccines that combine new and old antigens, such as hepatitis
B combined with DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), a demand
that vaccine manufacturers are now striving to satisfy.
- Made The Vaccine Fund truly international: Norway,
the United Kingdom, the United States, The Netherlands, Sweden,
Denmark and Canada have all joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
to support The Vaccine Fund, pushing its total commitments to
above $1 billion.
- Developed a new protocol to assess the quality
of immunization coverage data, the immunization Data Quality Audit,
or DQA.
- Agreed to prioritize three new vaccines in late
stages of development, against viral diarrhoea, pneumonia, and
meningitis diseases that together cause approximately two million
child deaths each year.
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