International leaders announce $7.539 billion in pledges to immunise 300 million more children

Today international leaders announced a massive expansion of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, by pledging $7.539 billion.  The new funding announcement sets Gavi on a path to nearly double its impact in the next five years, immunising 300 million more children and preventing up to 6 million more deaths.

Today’s announcement, made at a pledging conference hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will allow Gavi to significantly scale up its work to stop children dying needlessly from preventable illnesses.  The news comes as nearly 150,000 ONE members around the world called on their governments to support Gavi’s work and advocates in Berlin reminded leaders attending the conference today that every parent deserves a chance to give their child a healthy start in life.

Michael Elliott, President and CEO of The ONE Campaign said:

“Gavi is simply one of the smartest aid investments around. Since 2000, more than half a billion children have been vaccinated with their support and more than 7 million needless deaths avoided. The more than $7.5 billion pledged today is a huge vote of confidence in Gavi to continue delivering measurable, cost-effective results and ensure that more children, regardless of where they are born, can access the vaccines they need.

We believe that 2015 can be a transformative year for global development efforts.  Commitments made by donors, companies, and affected countries here in Berlin give real momentum to the fight to end preventable deaths and extreme poverty within our lifetimes.

We wish that nations such as Japan—which will chair the G7 in 2016—had stepped up and supported Gavi, and we’ll be working to ensure that they wholeheartedly join the fight in the months to come.”

In particular, ONE welcomes significant contributions announced today by donors including the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the European Commission, and the Netherlands.  However, ONE is disappointed that Japan has failed to make any pledge for the 2016-20 period and that commitments from Sweden and Australia lack ambition.

Elliott continued:

“We commend Chancellor Merkel for her leadership on Gavi today. With Germany hosting the G7 this year, her support in the fight against extreme poverty, preventable diseases, sustainable development and gender equality is going to be crucial, and we look forward to her continued inspirational role in making the world a better place.”

ENDS

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership formed in 2000 to ensure that more children can access the vaccines they need to stay healthy.  As an alliance of national governments, donors, the private sector, and experts like WHO and UNICEF, Gavi draws on the unique skills of many partners to ensure collaboration, innovation, and results.

Gavi currently finances the purchase of vaccines in more than 70 of the world’s poorest countries. These vaccines fight diseases including diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumonia, rotavirus (diarrheal disease); measles; rubella and polio.  Gavi also provides financial support to strengthen countries’ own immunization programs and broader health systems. In addition, Gavi works with the pharmaceutical industry to begin producing vaccines suitable for the world’s poorest people and drive down the cost of many important vaccines