More About GAVI

Who We Are

• The Board
• The Working Group
• The Secretariat
• Task Forces

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) is a coalition of global leaders in immunization including UN organizations, national governments, foundations, NGOs, and the pharmaceutical industry, formed in response to stagnating global immunization rates and widening disparities in vaccine access among industrialized and developing countries. Since 1999 the alliance has provided a mechanism for partners to collaborate more closely, agree upon common goals and strategies, and share a commitment to do more for immunization – and to do it better.

The Board

The GAVI Board sets the policies of the alliance. Comprised of the highest-level representation from the partners, there are four renewable members – WHO, UNICEF, The World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – and eleven rotating members responsible for representing the collective expertise and perspective of their constituencies.

Current Board members are:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Dr Richard Klausner, , Executive Director of Global Health

UNICEF Ms Carol Bellamy, Executive Director & Dr Suomi Sakai, Chief, Immunization Activities

WHO Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General & Dr Yasuhiro Suzuki, Executive Director, Health, Technology and Pharmaceuticals

The World Bank Group Mr James Wolfensohn, President & Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Managing Director

Foundation: UN Foundation Mr Tim Wirth, President

Government – Developing Countries: Mali Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, Minister of Health,
India Mr Shatrughan Singha, Minister of Health and Family Welfare

Government – Industrialized Countries: Norway Dr Sigrun Mogedal, State Secretary
United Kingdom Ms Clare Short, Minister for International Development,
United States Dr. E. Anne Peterson, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S.A (http://www.usaid.gov)

Vaccine Industry – Developing Country: CIGB, Cuba Dr Luis Saturnino Herrera Martinez, Director-General

Vaccine Industry – Industrialized Country: Wyeth-Ayerst Global Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Kevin L. Reilly, President, Wyeth Vaccines and Nutrition

Non-governmental Organization: Kenya Red Cross Society, Mr. Abbas G. Gullet, Secretary General.

Research Institute: Institut Pasteur, France Dr Philippe Kourilsky, Director-General

Technical Health Institute: Centers for Disease Control (CDC), USA Dr David Fleming, Deputy Director for Science and Public Health

The Working Group

The GAVI Working Group is responsible for the implementation of the decisions of the GAVI Board. The Working Group is comprised of middle-level managers in the GAVI partner institutions. These staff are able to translate GAVI priorities into their respective agency workplans.

Current Working Group members are:

1. GAVI Secretariat
   Dr. Tore Godal, Executive Secretary
2. The Vaccine Fund
   Mr. Jacques-François Martin, President
3. UNICEF
   Dr. Paul Fife, Health Advisor, Immunization Health Section
4. The World Bank
   Ms. Amie Batson, Sr. Health Specialist, Health, Nutrition and Population Unit
5. WHO
   Mr. Michel Zaffran, Programme Manager, Vaccines and Biologicals
6. Vaccine industry – Wyeth-Ayerst Labs
   Ms. Jacqueline Keith, International Trade Relations
7. Non-govermental organization – PATH
   Dr. Mark Kane, Director, Children’s Vaccine Program
8. Industrialized country government – USAID
   Dr. Steve Landry, Technical Advisor, Children’s Vaccine Program
9. Developing country government – Tanzania
   Dr. Caroline Akim, EPI Manager
10. Research Institute – Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine
    Dr. Myron (Mike) Levine, Director, Center for Vaccine Development

The Secretariat

The GAVI Secretariat – five professional staff and two secretaries housed in the European regional office of UNICEF in Geneva – facilitates coordination between the partners and manages the review of country proposals to the Vaccine Fund. The Executive Secretary reports to the GAVI Board and the Secretariat’s budget is financed by membership fees paid by the GAVI Board members. For more information on the operations of the Secretariat, please see Overview of the Operations Function in the GAVI Secretariat.

Task Forces

Four GAVI Task Forces have been established to address specific issues of concern to the Board. Task forces are funded and managed by their respective lead agency(ies), and include representatives of the relevant partner agencies. The Advocacy Task Force is chaired by UNICEF; the Implementation Task Force is co-chaired by WHO and the government of Norway; the Financing Task Force is co-chaired by the World Bank and USAID; and the Research and Development Task Force is co-chaired by WHO, NIH and Chiron Vaccines.

In addition, regional groups have been formed to help coordinate technical support and information sharing between the national and international levels.