UNICEF: Vaccinate every child
NEW YORK (June 6, 2011) — As world leaders prepare to converge on London for the GAVI Alliance pledging conference next week, UNICEF is calling on donors to fund a global immunization effort to save millions of children's lives by 2015.
The children's agency emphasized that the best use of funding for vaccines is to implement programs that prioritize the hardest to reach children who currently miss out on these simple lifesaving vaccines. Currently, one in five children is not vaccinated.
"We have the vaccines and the technical expertise to save millions of children's lives," said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, who will be in London for the conference. "Now we must match our knowledge with our commitment to help the poorest, most vulnerable children. No immunization campaign can succeed fully without reaching the hardest to reach."
UNICEF is in the unique position of being involved at every stage of the immunization process, supplying vaccines to an estimated 58 percent of the world's children and working on the ground in more than 150 countries. It is a founding partner in the GAVI Alliance, a global health partnership representing stakeholders in immunization from both private and public sectors, which is holding a conference in London on June 13th, where it is hoped donor countries will make firm commitments to fund vaccines through 2015.
The opportunity: Saving four million children's lives by 2015
Beyond expanding coverage to reach the unreached, focus must be also on introducing powerful new vaccines to countries that do not have access to them. Pneumonia and diarrhea cause one-third of all childhood deaths, and new vaccines against some causes of these deadly diseases now exist.
The GAVI Alliance, UNICEF and partners aim to save an additional four million children's lives by 2015 by rolling out these new vaccines and others. Despite significant progress in reducing childhood mortality, nearly two million children still die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases.
UNICEF's role
In 2010 UNICEF procured approximately 2.53 billion doses of traditional and new vaccines worth $750 million on behalf of GAVI and governments of developing countries. As the leading vaccine procurement agency in the world, with its supply division based in Copenhagen, UNICEF contributes to the health and security of the global vaccine market.
UNICEF's procurement work is guided by an over-arching vaccine security strategy that entails working with multiple WHO-prequalified suppliers to discourage monopolies; accurately forecasting multi-year global vaccine needs in order to negotiate favorable prices and ensure an adequate supply of vaccines; and securing the safe and timely delivery of the vaccines to countries.
Beyond procurement, UNICEF works with governments to help deliver vaccines to communities via a "cold chain," train vaccinators, and ensure that care-givers understand the importance of immunization and how to access it.
About vaccine pricing
In an effort to improve transparency around vaccine supply, UNICEF recently made public the prices it pays for individual vaccines. As the largest buyer of children's vaccines, this move is in line with UNICEF's commitment to ensure that vaccine supply is sustainable and affordable.
"A competitive and sustainable market that achieves greater vaccine security is in the best interest of children, especially the poorest and most vulnerable," said Ms. Shanelle Hall, Director, UNICEF’s Supply Division. "We will publish the prices we pay for vaccines once contracts for vaccines have been awarded following a procurement process. The commitments expressed today by industry help assure us that we can look forward to lower vaccine prices which will enable more and more children to have access to vaccines that could save their lives."
About UNICEF
UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. Working in more than 150 countries, UNICEF provides children with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States.
UNICEF is at the forefront of efforts to reduce child mortality worldwide. There has been substantial progress: the annual number of under-five deaths dropped from 13 million in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2008. But still, 22,000 children die each day from preventable causes. Our mission is to do whatever it takes to make that number zero by giving children the essentials for a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org.
For additional information, please contact:
Susannah Masur, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 212.880.9146, smasur@unicefusa.org
Kiní Schoop, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 212.922.2634, kschoop@unicefusa.org