Gates Foundation
2015 is gonna be HUGE. This year world leaders will meet to set out global agenda that will tackle issues like education, health, hunger and the environment . At the same time, global citizens will be working harder than ever towards the goal of ending extreme poverty. But 2015 is also a year for celebration because 15 years ago Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was born.
Gavi is unique in that it brings together donor governments, developing countries, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, civil society, and the private sector to work towards a common goal: increasing access to vaccines for people living in poor countries, so that kids can grow up healthy and reach their full potential.
Already the Vaccine Alliance has accomplished so much, and saved millions of lives. Take a look at what I’m talking about:
1. To date, Gavi support is available to the 73 poorest countries in the world.
2. Since the Vaccine Alliance was created in 2000, 500 million children have been immunised.
3. Approximately six million future deaths have been averted from polio, hepatitis B, rotavirus diarrhoea, Haemophilus influenzae type B, measles, pertussis, pneumococcal disease, and yellow fever.
4. As of 2013, 11 countries in the African meningitis belt had collectively immunized 153 million people against meningitis A with support from the Vaccine Alliance.
5. By the end of 2013, Gavi support had contributed to immunizing more than four million children against rotavirus diarrhoea.
6. Since 2014, 5-in-1 pentavalent vaccine has been available in all of the world’s poorest countries.
7. And, looking forward, Gavi support will assist countries to immunize a further 300 million more children between 2016-2020.That’s over a quarter billion people!
8. All in all, this amounts to 7 million lives saved.
While these numbers are fantastic, Gavi’s work, or really our work as global citizens, is far from done. Even in Gavi supported countries, 24% of children remain undervaccinated, and globally, 22 million infants remain underimmunized each year. Since immunizations are one of the most cost-effective ways to ensure that children grow up healthy, we can’t stop until these numbers reach 0.
So this year, let’s recognize the incredible work that has been accomplished through Gavi’s efforts and commit ourselves to ensuring all children receive the life-saving vaccines that they need.
----