High-level meeting to review access to vaccines in low-income countries and how to accelerate impact.

Abu Dhabi, 10/11 December 2018 - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance are bringing together leaders and the global health community for a two-day meeting on December 10–11 to review progress half way through Gavi’s 2016–2020 investment period, examine challenges and refine actions for increasing access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries to help empower the next generation through health.

Over the last 18 years, more than 700 million children have been immunised and 10 million lives have been saved as a result of massive international efforts to increase equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries.

“We are proud to host Gavi’s Mid-Term Review in the Year of Zayed – the 100-year anniversary of the birth of our country’s founding father,” said UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, HE Reem Al Hashimy. “The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan demonstrated that investing in people’s welfare, human development produces great dividends for individuals, families and society as a whole. This echoes Gavi’s own commitment to improving the lives of children in the world’s poorest countries.”

Gavi's 2016-2020 Investment Opportunity: the goals

 

The President of the Republic of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Mozambique, Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, will join 300 representatives from governments, civil society and the private sector to celebrate the 10 million lives that Gavi has saved since inception in 2000, to review the progress made since the last replenishment in 2015 and to help shape the future of global health.

“Since its inception Gavi has done development differently. It has embraced innovation and technology and relied on the comparative strengths of its partners to fulfil its ambitious mission,” said Gavi Board Chair, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “This approach has allowed investments to go further and had an impact that goes beyond immunisation, transforming lives for a better future,” she added.

Committed to global health

The UAE is committed to global health, as well as humanitarian initiatives and efforts. For instance since 2011, the country has been supporting polio eradication efforts while contributing to Gavi. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Initiative for Polio Eradication is a leading and pioneering initiative in support of global eradication efforts.

The Emirates Polio Campaign (UAE-PAP), launched in 2014 in Pakistan, has already reached 57 million children with 346 million doses of life–saving vaccines. This effort has contributed to the decrease of polio cases from 306 in 2014 to just 8 cases since the beginning of 2018.

Innovative model

“As a longstanding partner, the UAE is helping Gavi reach more children with life-saving vaccines,” said Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley. “We are grateful to them for hosting this meeting, which will give us the opportunity to reflect on our results in the past years and shape the future of Gavi’s innovative model as rapid population growth, migration, relentless urbanisation and the impacts of climate change all combine to increase the risk of disease outbreaks. We look forward to working with world leaders to further strengthen our model, so that Gavi is ready to meet these challenges for the benefit of generations to come.”

Since 2000, Gavi has supported the immunisation of close to 100 million children in six countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) region: Afghanistan, Djibouti, Pakistan, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen. Under Gavi’s eligibility and transition policy, Syria will become eligible for Gavi’s portfolio of support as of 1 January 2019.

The Alliance has also supported 33 of the 57 countries in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and helped to ensure the immunisation of more than 288 million children in OIC member states. 

Notes to editors

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 760 million children – and prevented more than 13 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Vaccine 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. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.