Friday, December 6, 2024

Gavi will vaccinate 500 million children worldwide by 2030

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Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has announced plans to vaccinate 500 million children worldwide by 2030 as part of its new five-year strategy, which outlines the organisation's vision, mission and objectives for that period.

This was revealed by the group on Monday through a publication on X.

Through this initiative, it aims to save between eight and nine million children, adding that it will focus on introducing and scaling up vaccines to prevent endemic, epidemic and pandemic diseases, including climate-sensitive ones such as dengue and tuberculosis.

Gavi said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, in a statement, said closing the immunization gap requires a collective effort.

He said that “closing the immunization gap requires a global effort, with governments, partners and local leaders investing in primary health care and community workers to ensure that all children are vaccinated and that healthcare is strengthened in general”.

Gavi's objectives (2025-2030)

Earlier this year, Gavi launched its investment case, “Protecting Our Future,” outlining its strategy through 2030 and seeking $11.9 billion to achieve its plan.

To this end, the group has received $2.4 billion in pledges, including a commitment of $1.58 billion from the United States, representing an 8 percent increase over its previous pledge.

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A key component of Gavi's plan is the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA), which aims to invest $1.2 billion to scale up vaccine production in Africa. This initiative addresses the stark disparity in vaccine distribution, where Africa, which represents almost a fifth of the world's population, received only 6 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines produced in January 2022.

Gavi said its fundraising will culminate with a final pledging event in spring 2025, coinciding with the replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The success of these organizations is crucial to ensuring universal access to disease prevention and treatment and ultimately shaping the future of global health.

According to them, the strategy for 2025-2030 focuses on three main objectives, which aim to strengthen country-led vaccine programs by helping nations optimize their vaccine portfolios and introducing new vaccines adapted to their local context and capacity.

The organization also said it seeks to expand access to vaccines, ensuring equitable and timely distribution to prevent outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics.

Additionally, Gavi said it will improve global health security by deepening engagement in the response to vaccine-preventable diseases and expanding the global vaccine stockpile.

Global response

Gavi, reflecting on history, stated that in the 1950s, a devastating smallpox outbreak devastated nearly 60 countries, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to take action.

In 1980, smallpox became the first infectious disease to be eradicated, a monumental achievement that sparked a wave of optimism among global health advocates. They began to explore what other diseases could be addressed next.

However, he said that in the 1980s there was a proliferation of vaccination efforts against diseases such as polio and measles, but that the advances were short-lived. As populations grew, vaccines failed to keep pace and equity issues led to uneven distribution, with some vaccines available in the Global North but not the Global South, a problem also seen in the crisis. AIDS.

In response, leaders from the public and philanthropic sectors met at the 1990 World Summit for Children. Organizations such as UNICEF, UNDP, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, and the WHO launched the Children's Vaccine Initiative, with the objective of boosting coverage, research and coordination of vaccine supply.

This partnership made significant progress over the next decade, focusing on diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, and measles.

In 2000, the Children's Vaccines Initiative evolved into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a movement dedicated to saving lives and protecting the health of people, especially children.

Gavi has since allocated approximately $23 billion to scale up global immunization in low- and middle-income countries, with support from donors including the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States and the Gates Foundation.

The impact and challenges of Gavi

The group has made remarkable progress in global health since its creation in 2000, vaccinating more than one billion children in the world's poorest countries and preventing more than 17.3 million deaths.

Its efforts focus on combating 20 diseases, including measles, human papillomavirus (HPV) and others.

According to them, it recently expanded its scope to address the intersection of climate change and global health, tackling waterborne diseases like cholera and animal-borne diseases like yellow fever and malaria that thrive in warmer climates.

It said that by overcoming setbacks and closing the immunization gap, it has achieved notable successes, including steadily increasing HPV vaccine coverage since 2020, especially among girls.

However, COVID-19 was a major setback for immunization coverage, with 2.7 million more unvaccinated or undervaccinated children in 2019 compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Additionally, in 2022, more than 14 million children did not receive life-saving DTP vaccines, and six million received only partial vaccination.

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