African Leader pledge support for immunisation
Abuja (PRWEB UK) 8 May 2014 -- African leaders have pledged to prioritise sustainable immunisation programmes as part of continued investment in the healthy futures of children and families in their countries.
The Immunise Africa 2020 leaders‘ declaration, launched in Abuja today during an event hosted by Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, recognises the US$ 700 million that African Governments are projected to spend on co-financing vaccines purchased by the GAVI Alliance between 2016 and 2020. This is additional to the billions of dollars African countries already spend on health services.
The declaration text also highlights the strong progress being made on improving the health of people across Africa but calls on the GAVI Alliance and its partners to do more to help continue the decline in child death rates on the continent. President Kaberuka was joined at the event by President John Dramani Mahama of the Republic of Ghana, President Macky Sall of the Republic of Senegal and President Jakaya Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania who all offered their endorsement.
“Immunisation is one of the most important investments we are making in our children and in their future,” said President Mahama. “We are committed to ensuring that vaccine programmes in Ghana will be sustainable, so that our children are fully protected from potentially fatal diseases.”
President Kikwete further added that "immunisation represents one of the smartest investments we can make in the health of our citizens and the future of our nations.”
“As leaders of this dynamic continent, we will ensure that our children have access to the best, most sustainable technologies to provide them with the best possible start in life,” added President Sall.
“The investments countries are making in vaccines today will reap enormous benefits in the short and the near term,” said President Kaberuka. “By committing to immunisation, African leaders are taking a bold step towards securing their countries’ prosperity and economic security.”
African leaders’ support for the Immunise Africa 2020 declaration comes less than two weeks before a major meeting in Brussels where the GAVI Alliance will present to its partners the funding requirements needed during the five-year period from the beginning of 2016 to build upon the gains already achieved against the biggest killers of children.
Donor funding will be crucial and catalytic to securing GAVI-supported programmes through to 2020 but implementing countries are also playing their part through the Alliance’s co-financing and graduation policies.
Under the co-financing policy, countries make a financial payment – starting at $0.20 per dose for the poorest countries – towards the costs of vaccines supplied by the GAVI Alliance. Between 2011 and 2015 African countries will make US$ 254 million in co-financing payments. Between 2016 and 2020 the figures is projected to almost treble to an estimated US$ 700 million.
The GAVI Alliance’s graduation policy also supports African countries towards self-sufficient immunisation programmes. When a country’s gross national income (GNI) per capita exceeds a threshold, currently US$ 1,570, it enters the graduation phase. This means that GAVI Alliance vaccine funding diminishes over a period of five years until the countries’ vaccine programmes have become fully self-sufficient.
The commitments – both political and financial – from implementing countries are a vital part of the success of the GAVI Alliance. Donor funding and work to reduce vaccine prices are the other two key pillars that have enabled the global public-private partnership to fund the immunisation of 440 million children since 2000, saving approximately six million lives.
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Notes to editors:
The Immunise Africa 2020 leaders’ declaration was launched at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Nigeria. For photographs of the launch event please see the World Economic Forum’s photostream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/collections/72157644028871490/.
To view the Immunise Africa 2020 leaders’ declaration, please use the following links:
http://www.gavialliance.org/immunise-africa-2020 (English)
http://www.gavialliance.org/fr/2020-afrique-vaccine (French)
About the GAVI Alliance
The GAVI Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries. The Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. GAVI uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, GAVI has contributed to the immunisation of an additional 440 million children and the prevention of approximately 6 million future deaths. Learn more at http://www.gavialliance.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
The GAVI Alliance is funded by governments (Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States), the European Commission, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as private and corporate partners (Absolute Return for Kids, Anglo American plc., the A&A Foundation, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Comic Relief, the ELMA Vaccines and Immunization Foundation, JP Morgan, “la Caixa” Foundation, LDS Charities, Lions Club International Foundation, and Vodafone).
To access broadcast-quality footage from the GAVI library, please visit: http://www.gavi-video.org/content/index.asp
Media interest
Rob Kelly
GAVI Alliance
Tel: +41 22 909 2978
Mob: +41 79 745 2031
Email: rkelly(at)gavialliance(dot)org
Rob Kelly, GAVI Alliance, +41 229092978, [email protected]
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