Brussels, 28/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Over the period 2016-2020, the European Commission pledges to allocate €200 million to the GAVI Alliance to purchase vaccines and finance childhood immunisation programmes in developing countries, announced European International Cooperation and Development Commissioner Neven Mimica in Berlin on Tuesday 27 January.
He was speaking at the opening of the GAVI international replenishment conference. GAVI is a public-private partnership, the aim of which is to provide access to immunisation to those in the world's poorest countries. Its goal is to immunise 300 million more children and so prevent up to 6 million avoidable deaths. The Conference “Reach Every Child” has garnered $7.539 billion in pledges and donations and should allow GAVI to achieve its goal, if the promises are kept.
ONE, the non-governmental organisation that campaigns to end extreme poverty and preventable diseases in developing countries, welcomed the European Commission pledge, which “should be applauded”, it said in a press release. It regretted, however, that “Japan has failed to make any pledge for the 2016-20 period and that commitments from Sweden and Australia lack ambition”.
Michael Elliott, ONE President, said: “We believe that 2015 can be a transformative year for global development efforts. Commitments made by donors, companies, and affected countries here in Berlin give real momentum to the fight to end preventable deaths and extreme poverty within our lifetimes”.
The EU has already pledged €200 million to GAVI for the period 2014-2020, announced by the previous European Commission in Brussels in May 2014, at the conference “Investing together for a healthy future” which launched GAVI's replenishment process. Mimica's announcement, then, will see a doubling of the EU contribution. The GAVI Alliance was set up in 2000 and brings together governments, donors, the private sector and experts, like WHO and UNICEF. It funds the purchase of vaccines against many diseases (diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumonia, polio, measles, and rotavirus (a diarrheal disease) in over 70 countries, where it also supports immunisation programmes. (AN)