The government of Benin, as well as those of the Central African Republic (CAR) and Cameroon, announced today that they are working with GAVI to introduce vaccines to combat pneumonia, one of the biggest killers of children worldwide. As the vaccines come in, countries will have to work with many kinds of people — government officials, NGOs, community leaders, health care workers, and yes, even shamans — to guarantee a successful roll out.

This good news comes off the back of a recent GAVI victory. Just a few weeks ago, donors around the world committed a whopping $4.3 billion in additional funding to GAVI over the next five years to support the roll-out of new and underutilized vaccines.

“The introduction of this vaccine represents a major milestone for our young generation. This new vaccine gives them hope today that they will grow up healthy and lead a productive future,” says Dr. Jean Michel Mandaba, minister of Health of the Central African Republic.

Pneumococcal disease, the leading cause of pneumonia, is the major cause of death among children under the age of five. It is also responsible for meningitis, which can leave survivors with disabilities like mental retardation and seizures.

The roll-outs of these vaccines in the CAR, Benin and Cameroon will start taking place next month and will help make a positive impact on the mortality rates of of children in these countries. Undoubtedly, the roll-outs will face challenges and will take a great deal of effort from many actors—but we know from past vaccination campaigns that the work is doable and the results are incredible.

So, congratulations to GAVI and the governments of these three African nations. We wish you the best on your vaccine roll-outs. And if you haven’t watched our “Vaccines and Voodoo” documentary yet, watch it here.

I’m sure you’ve already heard this news by now, but Benin was hit with the worst flood the country has seen since 1963. The annual rainy season — which also affected other West African countries — hit Benin the hardest, killing more than 50 people, destroying more than 150,000 homes and affecting nearly 680,000 people, says the Independent.

Relief groups have sprung into action, providing humanitarian aid for those affected by the floods. UNHCR has provided 1,500 tents for those displaced from their homes, and UNICEF is making bed nets available to help stop the spread of malaria among other things.

Take a look at some of the photos from the Benin flooding on the World Bank’s Africa Can … End Poverty blog and stay tuned to the ONE Blog for more updates on the crisis.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Sellen from the World Bank.

President Bush took off for Benin last night, and will also visit Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, and Liberia in the next 6 days.

We expect the trip to cover several of the bipartisan programs ONE supporters have been supporting for years, such as PEPFAR, PMI, the MCA and AGOA.

The ONE policy staff, who we love, put together briefs on all of these topics so that you can peruse at your leisure during the next few days. As news pours in as to what our president is doing day-to-day on his Africa trip, I’ll likely be referring back to the stats in these quick, easy-to-read briefs.

• PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)
• PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative)
• MCA (Millennium Challenge Account)
• AGOA (The African Growth and Opportunity Act)

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-Virginia Simmons