15 April 2011
Of the 132 million children born across the world each year, 23 million go unvaccinated against diseases such as pneumonia, hepatitis and meningitis. Two million children die each year from diseases vaccines can prevent.
The GAVI Alliance (formerly Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) was established in 2000 to address the urgent need to boost immunisation in the world’s poor countries. In little over ten years by rolling out vaccines against these deadly diseases GAVI has averted 5 million future deaths. The UK is a key supporter of GAVI and UK Aid over the next four years will help vaccinate more children against preventable diseases than there are people in the whole of England.
As well as doing vital work, GAVI offers excellent value for money. A recent review of DFID’s support to international agencies found that GAVI is a very strong performer and delivers some of the most cost effective health treatments. It delivers tangible results and has immunised over 288 million children since 2000.
The review also praised GAVI’s innovation. Its Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) scheme is a good example. One of the reasons that children in poor countries go unvaccinated is because vaccine manufacturers have not been able to recoup their investment costs incurred in developing the vaccine. Through the AMC, countries such as the UK guarantee the price of vaccines once they have been developed providing the manufacturers with the incentive to invest in research, development and production. Pneumonia accounts for 20% of all deaths of children under five. It is estimated that the introduction of pneumococcal vaccine through the AMC which will ensure vaccines will cost only a fraction of the current price will save approximately 900,000 lives by 2015.
This June, the UK will be hosting an event which aims to raise the additional money needed to fully fund GAVI’s programme over the next 4 years. This funding will enable it to roll out two new vaccines, pneumococcal and rotavirus, tackling the two biggest killers of children in the developing world – pneumonia and diarrhoea. This will save over 4 million lives by 2015.
This event is an opportunity for the international community, the private sector and vaccine manufacturers to commit to action that will save a million lives every year.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said:
"As one of the biggest supporters of the GAVI Alliance, the UK is at the forefront of international efforts to protect children from preventable diseases, and I look forward to hosting GAVI's next pledging conference in London in June this year. I am fully committed to working with our international partners to ensure that GAVI's valuable work continues to receive the support it deserves."
Each year, an estimated 35,000 under-fives in Kenya die from pneumonia, the most common form of serious pneumococcal disease. In February GAVI introduced the pneumococcal vaccine in Kenya.
Ever since the first consignment of pneumococcal vaccines reached Kenya in Sept 2010, Eunice Wanjiku Njabu (pictured right) and thousands of her fellow health workers have been attending one-day training sessions, learning how to administer the vaccine doses.
Eunice works at Langata District Health Centre in Nairobi nearby to the Kibera slum. Before the arrival of pneumococcal vaccines, nurses at Langata were helpless to defend Kibera’s children from pneumonia.
Tabitha Muikali, aged 32, who lives with her one-year-old son John Dolo in Kibera (pictured right), could only watch as her eldest son spent one month in Langata losing his fight to survive after contracting the disease. Aware of the high risks of contracting pneumonia in the shanty town hundreds of mothers have been queuing to vaccinate their children.
GAVI has committed to support the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines in 19 developing countries over the next 12 months. This figure will rise to more than 40 countries if sufficient money is obtained.
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Vaccines are the simplest, most effectives, most inexpensive way to save children’s lives
Bill Gates
