Press releases

According to global immunization experts, ten million additional lives could be saved through child and maternal immunization between 2006-2015 at an average annual cost of US $1 billion, according to a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.

Rapid progress in vaccine development, funding, and purchasing power suggests that immunization will play an unprecedented role in global poverty reduction over the next ten years.

Disease experts from around the world are gathering this week in New Delhi to consider the projected impact of innovations in vaccine science that are expected to fuel aggressive efforts aimed at preventing millions of needless deaths among children in the world’s poorest nations.

The first global initiative to reduce death and disability from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease, a major threat to child health worldwide, was launched today at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Partners’ Meeting in India.

At an international vaccine meeting in New Delhi today, the GAVI Alliance (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization), announced that the Alliance and its partners have distributed 1.214 billion single-use, auto-disable (AD) syringes, protecting millions of children in developing countries from blood-borne pathogens that might otherwise be transmitted through sloppy injection practices.

Speaking with passion about the dramatic potential of vaccines to prevent the deaths of millions of the world's poorest children, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh opened the 3rd Partners' Meeting of the GAVI Alliance (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) in New Delhi.

The Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, announced today that starting in 2006 the Government of Norway will boost its annual support to the GAVI Alliance (formerly known as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization).

Immunization programs in impoverished countries not only save lives, they boost economies, finds a study by researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) published in the current edition of World Economics.

Immunization at the global level has progressed very well during the past 25 years, but further increases in coverage would save the lives of millions more who do not yet benefit from this protection, said a group of immunization partners at the World Vaccine Congress in Lyon, France.

The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Sweden today committed nearly US$4 billion to support and scale up the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) over the next decade.

Op-Ed Michel Camdessus and Gro Harlem Brundtland As the leaders of the world's eight richest countries prepare for a meeting this July in Scotland, they will find the pieces are finally in place to do something that just a decade ago might have been dis

The Eurostat decision paves the way for the full-funding and eventual implementation of IFFIm. We are delighted by this decision and are grateful to all those who worked so hard to create this innovative financing vehicle.

The Lancet has today published online new research from a team led by the UK Medical Research Council's Richard Adegbola showing that routinely vaccinating infants against H. influenzae type b (Hib) – a bacterium that causes deadly diseases including pneumonia and meningitis – has virtually eliminated Hib meningitis in The Gambia.

"AIDS is a Human Rights Issue," Says Nelson Mandela, calling on the world to provide global health leaders the means to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to fight HIV/AIDS and other deadly preventable diseases. Nelson Mandela's 46664 arctic beg

In a major address today to international health officials, Bill Gates said the world now has a “historic chance” to achieve dramatic improvements in health, and called on governments, the scientific community, and the private sector to more aggressively fight the diseases that affect hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people each year.

2005 is a crucial year in our global struggle against poverty, hunger and fatal childhood disease in the developing world. Only 10 years remain before 2015, when the world will assess and take stock of its progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established by the UN in 2000.

Global health leaders today presented new research showing that vaccinating infants against Streptococcus pneumoniae – a bacterium that causes deadly pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis – could substantially reduce death and serious illness among children in the developing world.

The Canadian government today announced a donation of CAD $160 million (US $130 million) to scale up the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The donation represents the largest one-year commitment ever made by a government to the Alliance.

Schröder urged rich nations to grant developing countries better market access and to eliminate agricultural subsidies, punitive excise duties and protective clauses. He supported taxation on cross-border speculative financial transactions, as proposed by French President Jacques Chirac at the Annual Meeting two days ago.

Hilary Benn the Secretary of State for International Development (DFID) today announced that the UK will pledge almost £1 billion (US$1.8 billion) over 15 years to help immunise children and adults in the world’s poorest countries.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a grant of $750 million, and Norway committed $290 million, to support the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). In making the announcement today, Bill Gates called on other donors to address the major funding gap for children's immunization programs in developing countries.