.png?sfvrsn=6d0e27cd_1 "Partnership for Change - v7 (1)")
This month, I’m proud to spotlight Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a critical member of the PMNCH Global Financing Mechanisms constituency, working to advance progress and essential interventions for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health and well-being.
By increasing the equitable and sustainable use of vaccines, Gavi has helped vaccinate more than 888 million children in the world’s poorest countries, preventing more than 15 million future deaths. However, despite decades of progress, 12.4 million children in lower-income countries did not receive a single vaccine shot in 2020, leaving them vulnerable to some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Zero-dose children account for nearly half of all vaccine-preventable deaths. In response, Gavi is now putting a strong focus on reducing the number of “zero-dose” children by 50% by 2030, which will also mark the closing of the Sustainable Development Goals. Since immunization routinely reaches more people than any other health service and brings communities into regular contact with the health system, this movement will also provide an effective platform to deliver other crucial primary health care services to all household and community members, alleviating poor health and inequality.
Gavi has also recently introduced the Equity Accelerator Fund (EAF) - a new dedicated fund for accelerating the equity agenda and investments in zero-dose communities. Part of the EAF will be allocated to a new multi-country initiative to reach zero-dose children and missed communities in fragile, conflict and cross-border settings outside government reach, with a new partnership approach. The initial geographic focus of this support will be to the Sahel region and Horn of Africa due to the high number of zero-dose children residing in these regions because of prolonged humanitarian crisis, conflict, and displacement. Read more here.
Congratulations to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for its global leadership on vaccines and its incredible impact on the health and well-being of all. We look forward to our joint advocacy during World Immunization Week beginning on April 24, 2022.
Special thanks to Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, for her outstanding contributions over many years as PMNCH Board and Executive Committee Member and Constituency Chair.