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Dr Ren Minghui, Director General, Department of International Cooperation, China National Health and Family Planning Commission and Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Gavi’s Managing Director for Resource Mobilisation and Private Sector Partnership following the signing ceremony in Beijing.
Credit: China National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC)
Beijing, 9 September 2015 – The Chinese Government today signed an agreement to provide US$ 5 million to help Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance support the immunisation of children in the world’s poorest countries.
The agreement marks the first time China has provided funding for Gavi and comes four years after Vaccine Alliance support to help the Chinese Government introduce hepatitis B vaccines ended. According to the agreement, China will contribute funding for the period 2016-2020, when Gavi plans to help developing countries to immunise an additional 300 million children..
Dr Ren Minghui, Director General, Department of International Cooperation, China National Health and Family Planning Commission was joined at a signing ceremony in Beijing by Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Gavi’s Managing Director for Resource Mobilisation and Private Sector Partnerships.
Dr Ren Minghui said: “We are very pleased to sign the agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We hope that our collaboration with Gavi will leverage some of our own experiences and achievements in establishing and strengthening our immunisation programme. This will help improve and promote immunisation programmes in other developing countries helping achieve global development goals. The signing of this agreement once again demonstrates China’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation, promoting global immunisation and helping developing countries to address the most pressing health challenges. It also demonstrates China’s increased leadership role in global public health.”
“Today’s agreement is a significant milestone in the relationship between Gavi and China,” said Ms Saraka-Yao. “Having previously received support from Gavi. China recognises the importance of immunisation and is now joining us in our mission to help protect hundreds of millions of children from potentially fatal diseases.”
China’s decision, announced during the Gavi Pledging Conference in Berlin in January 2015, provides a clear example of Gavi’s business model of long-term, sustainable development at work. With Gavi support, countries introduce vaccines and as their economies grow they transition from Gavi support to fully self-financing their immunisation programmes.
As well as becoming a Gavi donor, China is also playing a role on the international vaccine stage.
In April, Lao People’s Democratic Republic became the first country to receive Gavi support to use a Chinese-manufactured vaccine. This was made possible by the World Health Organization’s decision to prequalify the vaccine, produced by Chengdu Institute of Biological Products in 2013 -- the first time a Chinese manufacturer had achieved this standard.