GAVI Alliance

GAVI Alliance

GAVI Alliance Colour Logo Logo
Type	Public-Private Partnership
Founded	2000 (2000)
Key people	Seth Berkley, Dagfinn Høybråten
Focus	Vaccines against: Human Papillomavirus (HPV), measles rubella, measles second dose, meningococcal A conjugate (Men A), pentavalent (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b), pneumococcal, rotavirus, yellow fever
Mission	Saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries
Website	www.gavialliance.org

The GAVI Alliance (formerly the “Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation”) is a public-private global health partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

The Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists. As a public-private partnership, GAVI represents the sum of its partners' individual strengths, from WHO's scientific expertise and UNICEF's procurement system to the financial know-how of the World Bank and the market knowledge of the vaccine industry. By maximising its partners' expertise, existing networks and facilitating collaboration to find new solutions, GAVI has brought a single-minded focus to its mission: to save children's lives and protect people's health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

A decade of saving lives

The GAVI Alliance was launched in 2000, at a time when the distribution of vaccines to children in the poorest parts of the world had begun to falter. By the end of the 1990s, immunisation rates were stagnating or even declining. Nearly 30 million children born every year in developing countries were not fully immunised. With a US $ 750 million commitment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the vision of delivering vaccines to these children suddenly came within reach.

Since its launch in 2000, the GAVI Alliance has, contributed to the immunization of an additional 370 million children, helping developing countries prevent more than 5.5 million future deaths from hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib), measles, pertussis, pneumococcal disease, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea and yellow fever. Between now and 2015, GAVI can accelerate access to new vaccines that will save a further four million lives. This would have a significant impact on achieving the 4th Millennium Development Goal to reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate by 2015.

GAVI Leadership

Dagfinn Høybråten

Dagfinn Høybråten is the Chair of the GAVI Alliance Board. As of 3 March 2013, he is the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Prior to these positions Mr Høybråten has held several senior positions in Norwegian Government including Vice President of The Norwegian Parliament representing the Christian Democratic Party and a member of the Standing committee for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Minister of Health, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and State Secretary, Ministry of Finance and a Member of the Board of Governors of Norway’s Central Bank. As a Minister, Mr Høybråten was responsible for initiating several major health and social reforms, including new tobacco control legislation, a comprehensive Mental Health Plan and a reorganization of the welfare administration.

Mr Høybråten has also served as the Director General of Norway Social Security Administration, an Executive Director of the Norwegian Association of Local Government and a Chief Executive of the municipality of Oppegård. Mr Høybråten holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo.

Seth Berkley

Dr. Seth Berkley serves as CEO of the GAVI Alliance.

Seth Berkley joined the GAVI Alliance as CEO in August 2011, when it launched its five year strategy to immunise a quarter of a billion children in the developing world with life-saving vaccines by 2015.

Prior to joining the GAVI Alliance, Seth was the founder, president and CEO for 15 years of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the first vaccine product development public-private sector partnership. Under his leadership, IAVI implemented a global advocacy programme that assured that vaccines received prominent attention in the media and in forums such as the G 8, EU and the UN.

How does GAVI work?

Building on country commitment

Countries that are eligible for GAVI support actively take the lead. They determine what their immunisation needs are, apply for funding and oversee the implementation of their vaccination programmes. GAVI’s co-financing policy requires that recipient countries contribute towards the cost of the vaccines. This further strengthens ownership and long-term sustainability of immunisation programmes. The fact that countries increasingly demand GAVI-funded vaccines and are prepared to co-finance them shows their strong commitment to improving the health of their populations.

External links

• Official website