ONE Kicks Off Vaccine Campaign Ahead of World Cup

BRUSSELS – As billions of people prepare to cheer for their favorite teams in the 2014 World Cup, The ONE Campaign released a new report today, Going for Goal: Immunisation and the Case for GAVI, that urges the world to pay attention not only to the shots and saves on the playing fields of Brazil, but in health clinics around the world where GAVI’s support for vaccines is saving millions of children from preventable diseases.

The new report was released at GAVI’s pre-replenishment conference in Brussels, where the Alliance announced a new global effort to raise an additional $7.5 billion from donors to immunise more than 300 million children and save more than 5 million additional lives over the next five years.

ONE’s report is a “scouting report” that analyzes the performance of each country participating in the World Cup (and a few others), highlighting their contributions to GAVI and what they need to do to step up the fight against preventable childhood deaths. It sets out a five point action plan for GAVI, donors and countries with high levels of disease that will make a huge impact on the health of the world’s children.

Erin Hohlfelder, ONE’s Director of Global Health Policy, said:

“The World Cup is a perfect time to make the case for GAVI. Just as teams from six continents are coming together to compete on a level playing field, GAVI is also a story about the world coming together. Different donors, partner countries, activists, technical partners, and private companies are joining forces to help deliver vaccines – and these players need to work as a team if GAVI is to build on its successes and get the next big goal it wants: saving more than 5 million lives.

The urgent work to ensure that more children receive vaccines is rooted in a devastating reality: in 2012, an estimated 6.6 million children around the world died before reaching their fifth birthdays.

For many of these children, simply because they can’t access the basic vaccines we take for granted, they don’t have the chance to grow up to be the next Didier Drogba, Per Mertesacker, Mia Hamm, or Abby Wambach. That’s an unacceptable reality that we have the power to change, starting by securing new financing for GAVI.”

In order to reach this goal and make new progress in the fight against preventable childhood deaths, ONE’s report makes five recommendations:

• Donors must step up their support for GAVI. A number of countries each need to significantly increase their contributions in order for GAVI to reach its financing goals.
• Countries with high levels of disease burden must increase domestic financing for health and strengthen their immunization programs.
• Emerging economies must close the gap between those populations in their countries who receive vaccinations and those who don’t.
• GAVI should strengthen its own strategies to ensure that more children are reached, regardless of where they live.
• All countries must work harder to combat vaccine-preventable outbreaks, which are not only deadly but also threaten to reverse years of investments and progress.

The GAVI Alliance has saved 6 million lives and supported the immunization of 440 million children since it was created in 2000. The Alliance finances the purchase of vaccines in more than 70 of the world’s poorest countries and has helped shape markets to help dramatically reduce the price of these important vaccines.

To read the full report, as well as to sign a petition to world leaders in support of GAVI, visit ONE.org/vaccines.