Dagfinn
Høybråten, Chair of the GAVI Board, thanks France for their support to GAVI
French Minister for Cooperation H. de Raincourt, and GAVI Board Chair Dagfinn Høybråten.
Photo credit: CabCoop presse/2012
Mr. Henri de Raincourt, Minister for Cooperation and Mr. Dagfinn
Høybråten, Chair of the GAVI Board, have provided today an update on
the progress made in terms of access to immunisation, and the key role
France has to play in improving the health of people in developing
countries.
Mr. de Raincourt and Mr. Høybråten held discussions today
during a visit of the Chair of the GAVI Board in Paris. Mr.
Høybråten also met the Members of the Parliament and the NGOs in France.
France's support to GAVI
At the occasion of this meeting, Mr. Høybråten, Norwegian parliamentarian
and former Minister of Health of Norway, thanked France for its support
to GAVI, recently extended to the tune of € 100 million until 2015. The
total commitment of France to GAVI is over € 1.3 billion for the period
2004-2026, including through innovative funding solutions (IFFIm and
solidarity tax on airline tickets).
Illustrating the ability of
vaccines to save lives and protect health, the Minister Henri de
Raincourt said that the GAVI mission was aligned to the strategic
objectives of France, which considers maternal and child health as
priorities for French development aid.
"We are particularly
grateful to France for the importance it gives to the health of
children. Its support is essential in our efforts to protect over 250
million children by 2015," said Dagfinn Høybråten, Chair of the GAVI
Board.
A child dies from a preventable disease every 20 seconds, and the vast majority of these deaths occur in developing countries. This death toll is morally inacceptable in the 21st century. Dagfinn Høybråten, Chair of the GAVI Alliance Board |
Pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines
Thanks to the unprecedented mobilisation of the
international community to fight against the two major causes of child
mortality - pneumonia and diarrheoa - more than 15 countries are
already protecting their children against the main causes of at least
one of these two deadly diseases.
Indeed, the pneumococcal and
rotavirus vaccines, which protect against the major causes of pneumonia
and diarrheoa respectively (together account for 36% of child
mortality), were deployed in an accelerated manner over the last 12
months, and about 20 additional countries have planned to introduce one
or the other of these vaccines in 2012.
Effective and efficient way to improve health
"France is extremely keen
that all children, whether they are born in Africa or elsewhere, get
proper health care. Thanks to vaccines, we can prevent millions of
deaths and disability caused by diseases which are still too common",
said Mr. Henri de Raincourt.
Mr. Høybråten reiterated how immunisation
is an effective and efficient way to improve health. GAVI has helped
prevent more than five and a half million deaths since the year 2000,
but Mr. Høybråten reminded how urgent it is to capitalise on these
achievements.
“A child dies from a preventable disease every 20 seconds,
and the vast majority of these deaths occur in developing countries.
This death toll is morally inacceptable in the 21st century. We must
work together to ensure that children in the poorest countries have the
same access to vaccines as children in richer nations”.
