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News blogs from the 4th Partners' Forum


GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty, pictured with GAVI Deputy CEO Helen Evans, answers questions during the 4th Partners' Forum in Hanoi. Copyright: GAVI Alliance 2009/Julian Wainwright

Review some of the key events and voices from GAVI's 4th Partners' Forum (November 18-20th), which attracted 450 immunisation experts from around the world.

 

20th November, 2009: Closing Plenary

"GAVI has been re-energised during the two days of this Forum."
Julian Lob-Levyt, GAVI CEO

GAVI CEO Julian-Lob-Levyt has closed the 4th Partners' Forum by thanking the 450 delegates for their role in reinforcing and re-energising the Alliance.

"I think GAVI has been re-energised in terms of challenges during the two days of this Forum," said Lob-Levyt. "It's been about GAVI getting ever wider as an Alliance, in particular, increasing its engagement with civil society. We are an alliance of many interests, but seem to be quite united in our mission.

He also assured participants that, "GAVI's job will not be done in 2015. There are still 24 million children in the world who receive no vaccines, so there is still much work for the Alliance to do."

In her final address to the Forum, Mary Robinson, Chair of the GAVI Alliance Board, won warm applause when she also welcomed the active role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the event.

She recalled her early political career, when she campaigned on a number of civil rights issues.

"The Chair has returned to Civil Society. I am of Civil Society."

On the 20th Anniversary of the approval of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Robinson finished with a strong call to action for all of GAVI's partners.

"It is shocking in the 21st century, knowing that there are vaccines which should be on stream, that millions of children continue to have no access. That is an indictment of all of us."

"We need a movement that will make this happen. Let's work together so it becomes routine for all children everywhere in the world to have the right to immunisation."

Chris Endean, Online Communications' Director


20th November, 2009: GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty

"No doubt about the highlight of the final day of the Partners' Forum: GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty's address, for which there was scarcely a spare seat in the house with all 450 participants packing into the main conference call. They were not disappointed.

"There is no doubt that GAVI has absolutely captured the imagination of the industry and been a catalyst for change."
Andrew Witty, GlaxoSmithKline CEO

In a speech that re-emphased Witty's belief that pharmaceutical agencies have an obligation to help the poor get treatment, the speaker underlined GAVI's role as a 'catalyst' for change.

"There is no doubt that GAVI has absolutely captured the imagination of the industry and been a catalyst for change in the way that pharmaceutical companies think about capitalising on opportunties for helping developing countries. No-one in the industry is not thoughtful today on this subject."

Witty spoke of the need for the pharmaceutical industry to develop customised business models for different problems, comparing the different needs of Operation Katine in Uganda to a health care centre in New York.

The CEO described his February speech at Havard University - which outlined plans for GSK to give back 20 percent of its profits to the poorest countrie to be spent on hospitals and clinics - as "a new way of thinking, a signal ... for other multi-national companies involved in soft drinks, oil, pharmaceuticals to do the same thing."

Referring to a recent visit to Kenya, when he was shown warehouses packed with pharmaceutical products "because the distribution system was not working" and villages with lots of medicine but "no physician to make the right medical call", Witty challenged business to step in to help find solutions.

Witty pointed to GAVI's Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) as an example of a "clever, thoughtful business model that has created a different type of dialogue" between Governments, industry and developing countries to help provide vaccines to developing countries at lower prices.

He pointed out that GSK was already building up its facilities to enable production (of the pneumococcal vaccine) to meet a level of demand from developing countries that did not exist before AMC.

"The AMC has absolutely changed everything," he said. "We have to see whether we can make it happen. If we don't, it will set us back years. We have a duty to make it happen."

As a trained economist, Witty warned that the current global economic crisis was temporary and that GAVI should stick to its long-term strategy.

"It is terribly important that GAVI is not disturbed by the turbolence of the ongoing economic crisis. Better to shrink ambition than allow your long-term strategy to be corrupted by a cyclical downturn."

Chris Endean, Online Communications Director

'Immunisation Day' at Tu Son health clinic, Hanoi


Her Royal Highness Princess Cristina and GAVI Board Chair Mary Robinson watch as children are vaccinated at a health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Copyright: GAVI Alliance 2009/Markus Steffen

Babies clinging to grandmothers, themselves precariously balanced on the back of scooters driven by their daughters, offer the first sign that we are reaching our destination - the Tan Hong health clinic, set amid green fields in Tu Son district on the outskirts of Hanoi.

One by one, the mothers park their mopeds outside the courtyard of the neat, white-washed building before queueing patiently at the clinic's door, colourful blankets protecting their children from the chill of a Vietnamese winter's day.

Each is waiting for their child to be vaccinated against dtp3. Together with the Chair of the GAVI Alliance Board Mary Robinson, Her Royal Highness Princess Cristina and South African singer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Yvonne Chaka Chaka, we have taken time out from the Partners' Forum to witness firsthand the benefits of GAVI's support for Vietnam's national immunisation programme.

We receive a very warm welcome. HRH Princess Cristina immediately takes a newborn baby in her arms, while a tiny girl hands Yvonne a traditional Vietnamese hat.

"These women must make this same journey six times to ensure full immunisation. It means more work for the nurses, while the mothers point out that it's more painful for their babies. "
Jeffrey Rowland, GAVI Director Media & Communications

The expertise of the clinic's half dozen nurses is impressive; in this single day alone, they will use their GAVI-funded training to vaccinate 115 children.

However, it is the mothers' awareness of the significance of immunisation that is most striking. Like the women picking vegetables in the fields around us, most are smallholders, who sell their vegetables in Hanoi's markets to make a living. Speaking through a translator, we understand that most have foresaken a day's work to ensure their children are protected from potentially lethal diseases.

Now, we can understand why Vietnam's Ministry of Health will next year introduce the Pentavalent vaccine -- the five-in-one conjugate vaccine which requires only three shots to protect children from five diseases (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib and hepatitis B).

Right now, these women and their grandmothers must make this same journey six times to ensure full immunisation. It means more work for the nurses, while the mothers point out that it's more painful for their babies.

As we leave the clinic, Mary Robinson reminds us that today is the 20th anniversary of the Convention of Children's Rights. How appropriate, she says, to celebrate this landmark date by visiting a child health care clinic and watching mothers guarantee their children the right to life.

Jeffrey Rowland, Director of Media & Communications:


19th November, 2009: Plenary talk show

Day one's closing plenary talk show focused on the ever-growing role of Civil Society Organisations in GAVI's work. Here are some of the views that helped deliver one of the Forum's most dynamic debates to date.


"Having CSOs as your advocates is protective for organisations but this comes with ownership. Three representatives sit on the Global Fund Board, including one representing communities living with disease and this brings a different dynamic to our decision-making. These people can say that their lives depend directly on our decisions .... One of the big roles of CSOs is to hold us accountable. They keep us on our toes, focused on our results. It's not easy but we need that."
Christoph Benn, Director, External Relations and Partnership Cluster, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

"We want to constantly upset everything and everyone. Our work is not to sit back and be self-congratulatory. We need to remind all decision-makers across the board that we need to do more to guarantee the right to vaccines."
Frazer Goodwin, Project Manager Global Health, Action for Global Health

"As a paediatrician, I am an advocat for children. We can provide evidence that vaccines reduce child mortality. If you're an activist, why can't you work with your Government."
Sabrina Kitaka, Uganda Paediatrics Association/Mulago National Referral Hospital

"In Afghanistan, 80 percent of the money that we receive from GAVI goes to Civil Society Organisations. By working with CSOs at the grassroots level, our work is owned by the people and sustained by the people."
Dr Sayed Mohammed Amin Fatimie, Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health

"In Bangladesh, the Ministry of Health and CSOs have come a long way together. CSOs are not considered troublemakers. They are good partners, helping in health care and family planning."
Faruque Ahmed, Director BRAC Health Program, Bangladesh

"It was activism that put HIV on the global agenda. We need to build a similar movement for child health and support GAVI. However, strong CSO involvement in the GAVI governance structure is an essential, pre-requisite for constituencies being vocal about the Alliance."
Simon Wright, Head of Health & HIV, Save the Children UK

"There's an energy and passion here that I'm really happy about. It's clear that we won't achieve the Millennium Development Goals without engaging Civil Society Organisations and working closely together."
Julian Lob-Levyt, GAVI CEO, wrapping up CSO discussion


19th November, 2009: Voices from the Forum

The Partners Forum' is filled with the voices of its 400-odd participants. This is what some of the attendees were saying, both inside and outside the conference rooms, on Day One in Hanoi.


"This is a unique opportunity for developing countries to raise their voices. All the participants have an opportunity to share their concerns and build for future collaboration within the Alliance, to see how we can work together more effectively. In the aftermath of the economic crisis, I'm especially concerned that when we provide support it's to the right children. It's imperative that we save money for the right people."
Anahit Tadevosyan, Special advisor to Board member Tatul Hakobyan, Ministry of Health, Armenia

"The last Partners' Forum in New Delhi in 2005 was about finding pathways to expand GAVI's scope. This one is more about how to find resources, to keep GAVI doing what it does in the middle of a global economic crisis. By emphasising achievements, the Forum is making the case that GAVI is needed -- and I think it's doing that very well."
Basil Rodrigues, UNICEF Regional Office, Bangkok

"There is so much going on here on. I think it's a great chance to explain HSS to developing countries. From Rwanda's perspective, we are very interested in the discussion about HPV."
Gloria Tengera, Special Advisor to Health Minister Richard Sezibera, Ministry of Health, Rwanda

"The GAVI model is a source of pride for all of us, something to maintain and emulate. But it is a sad paradox that now we have more new vaccines than we can afford to pay for. These include very exciting new vaccines like the pneumoccal and the rotavirus vaccines. GAVI has to make sure that they are implemented on a wide scale in the developing world."
Jaimie Sepulveda, Director, Integrated Health Solutions Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

"GAVI has a talent for creating partnership with the private sector and leveraging the developing world's demand for life-saving vaccines. When funding is assured and there is demand, there is a good chance of providing vaccines at a fair price. And with more manufacturers coming in, a further decline (in price) is coming. When GAVI started out, there was only one manufacturer that provided Pentavalent. Now, there are four. There is a spill-over effect. As vaccine prices drop, so middle-income countries will be able to afford the same vaccines. Of course, they are not as cheap as for GAVI-supported countries, but still more accessible."
Dr. Ibrahim El-Ziq, Chief Immunization Centre, UNICEF Supply Division

"Developing country manufacturers currently account for 50% of all vaccines supplies to UNICEF. That figure is expected to increase to 70 percent by 2012, according to UNICEF estimates. This is giving developing country manufacturers' leverage to focus on more sophisticated vaccines like the hib conjugate and pneumococcal. This is all down to GAVI's market-shaping strategy."
Dr. Mahima Datla, Secretary Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network and Senior Vice-President for Bio-Technology and Projects Division in Biological E. Ltd.

"GAVI has changed the global mindset. If you look back at the assumptions in mid-1990s policy papers, the change is amazing. It is no longer acceptable for children in developing countries to wait too long to access new, lifesaving vaccines."
Dr. Rana Hajjeh, Director Hib Initiative and Division Director for the Division of Bacterial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"Much of what GAVI does is invisible. The Forum is a chance to show that GAVI does lots more than is generally thought."
Rehan Hafiz, Population Council, Pakistan

"Our government is very proud to host the Partners' Forum in Vietnam and is committed to continuing the good work with GAVI."
Tinh Quan Huan, Deputy Health Minister of Vietnam