DOHA: The Qatar Development Fund and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, signed today a landmark Contribution Agreement, under which Qatar agreed to make a multi-year financial pledge to help immunize children in the world’s poorest countries against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Gavi is a public-private global health partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
The agreement was signed by General Director of Qatar Development Fund Khalifa Jassim Al Kuwari and Gavi's Resource Mobilization and Private Sector Partnerships Managing Director Marie-Ange Sarakao-Yao.
Under the agreement, Qatar committed to provide an initial $10m to Gavi, to support immunization programmes in the period between 2016 and 2020. The funding will be provided through the Qatar Development Fund and follows the announcement at the Gavi Pledging Conference, held in Berlin in January 2015 that Qatar intends to commit funding to the Vaccine Alliance, reports QNA.
“The State of Qatar is committed to helping the international coalition save children's lives and protect people’s health through cooperation with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization Organization by increasing access to immunization in developing countries," said Al Kuwari.
“We are pleased that Qatar standing y the commitment it made in Berlin to join global efforts to protect children from life threatening diseases," said Gavi’s Resource Mobilisation and Private Sector Partnerships Managing Director Marie-Ange Sarakao-Yao. "This funding will help us towards our goal to immunize a further 300 million children between 2016 and 2020 and save up to six million more lives."
Since 2000, Gavi has helped immunize more than 500 million children in developing countries, leading to more than seven million deaths being averted. In Berlin last month, German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel led donors in pledging more than $7.5bn to ensure Gavi programmes are fully funded between 2016 and 2020.
Gavi has strong commitments towards Islamic Countries. Since 2000, more than $3.4bn has been invested to introduce vaccines in 33 member state of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).This represents more than 50 percent of Gavi’s disbursements and the Vaccine Alliance is planning to further increase support for OIC countries in the coming years.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public –private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people's health by increasing access to immunization in poor countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunization of an additional 500 million children and the prevention of approximately 7 million future death.
The Peninsula
