Vaccine Alliance
1
Statement by Mercy Ahun, Gavi’s Special Representative to GAVI-eligible
countries
Informal interactive hearings on the post-2015 development agenda
27 May 2015
Check against delivery
Friends and colleagues, it is an honor for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to be among you
today engaged in discussions that will help unite the world further in our efforts to
ensure sustainable development. It is by working in partnership that we will hand over
a world free of extreme poverty and debilitating diseases - a world where prosperity is
shared equitably across the globe.
Equity is at the core of Gavi’s business. When global leaders gathered in Berlin
exactly four months ago today and pleadged in excess of $7.5 billion to support Gavi’s
work for the next five years, it was under the banner of ‘Reach Every Child’.
Agreeing on a blueprint to deliver the sustainable development goals is simply mission
critical. In our Alliance we often say that while what we do is important - is how we do
it that leads to lasting impact.
Gavi was created in 2000 with an MDG-inspired mission to help save children’s lives
and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
The Secretary-General, Ban-Ki Moon, speaks of Gavi as a leading example of a truly
global partnership that is delivering specific results.
Let me share with you some reflections on our experience that may inform how we
implement the post 2015 agenda.
The Gavi story begins towards the end of the 20th century, when global immunisation
efforts were beginning to plateau. After rapid growth in the 1980s, vaccine coverage
was stagnating and in some places even declining. And even though new life-saving
vaccines were becoming available, virtually none were reaching children in developing
countries, those who needed them the most.
What was needed was an entirely new approach. A unique public-private partnership,
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was created to bring together the best of what key UN
agencies, governments, the vaccine industry, private sector and civil society had to offer
in order to improve childhood immunisation coverage in poor countries and to
accelerate access to new vaccines.
2
This model was designed to leverage not just financial resources but expertise too, to
help make vaccines more affordable, more available and their provision more
sustainable, by working towards a point where developing countries can pay for them
themselves. It is a 21st century development model for a new millennium and one
which works. By 2015 Gavi has reached 500 million additional children since its
creation, preventing more than 7 million deaths in the process.
The mechanism we put in place to ensure meaningful and inclusive participation of our
stakeholders is exemplified by our multi-stakeholder Board, which helps ensure
partner collaboration and increased accountability.
Donor governments and implementing country governments are organised in
constituencies and represented in equal numbers on the Gavi Board.
But one lesson from Gavi is the need to ensure more equality in intergovernmental
discussion. For example, we have had to explore ways of trying to ensure that the
voice of developing country governments is able to be heard. After all, the five Ministers
of Health who sit on the Gavi Board have a day job is to run their health services. The
five donor government representatives’ day job is to manage ODA contributions,
including to Gavi.
Let me move to financing. Globally we recognise that we need strong ODA
commitments, innovative mechanisms to leverage ODA more smartly and we also need
domestic financing. Gavi combines all three. Gavi’s resource mobilisation model is
often referred to as the three legged stool. One leg being our donor base including
innovative financing mechanisms, the second leg is domestic co-financing and the third
leg is market shaping.
The vast majority of GAVI’s funds come from governments as ODA. Donors have been
attracted to Gavi because we help countries to achieve real and measurable results –
childrens’ lives saved and illness averted. But they are also attracted by our business
model and approach to innovation, including in innovative finance, where we make
smarter use of ODA commitments.
One of the key innovative initiatives launched by Gavi is the International Finance
Facility for Immunisation. IFFIm, as it is known, is one of the most successful
innovative financing tools of the MDG period. It has leveraged Official Development
Assistance to raise more than US$5 billion in the capital markets over the last decade
through the issuance of vaccine bonds.
Thanks to IFFIm’s ability to shift funds through time, Gavi has been able to deliver
support for new vaccines many years in advance of donor payments, accessing future
cash inflows to immunise children today. The flexibility of the mechanism also recently
3
proved valuable as a potential stand-by funding source to enable Gavi’s rapid response
to the Ebola crisis.
The GAVI Matching Fund is another innovative way of leveraging additional financing.
Every Pound or Dollar or Euro contributed by the private sector is matched by a Pound
or Dollar or Euro from the UK Government and the Gates Foundation. This has already
resulted in over US$246 million raised, including the match. As importantly, it has
brought private sector expertise into some of our most difficult problem areas like how
to improve the vaccine supply chain and improve data sharing.
We are honored that the Mission of Australia and Liberia to the UN are hosting a
briefing tomorrow at 1.15 in Conference Room D on Gavi’s experience with innovative
financing mechanisms. I invite you all to attend.
Moving to that second leg of the Gavi three-legged resource mobilisation stool: Through
Gavi’s co-financing policy all countries contribute a share of the cost of new vaccines,
which gradually transfers responsibility for funding the vaccines to the government.
The co-financing share of the costs are determined by the governments’ ability to pay,
which adjusts as a country’s economy grows.
The third leg is Gavi’s explicit focus on market shaping. The 73 countries to which Gavi
offers support make up 60 per cent of the children born around the world each year. By
aggregating that birth cohort – and by bringing together large-scale donor financing –
we are transforming the global vaccine market to the benefit of the lowest income
countries. By bringing private and public sector partners together, leveraging ODA in
smart ways and taking a market-based approach to development, we are seeking to
ensure sufficient supply of appropriate, quality vaccines at low and sustainable
prices.
Gavi is looking to accelerate our efforts over the coming five years and expect to help
developing countries to immunize an additional 300 million children, leading to 5 to
6 million more lives saved.
So in conclusion: The Vaccine Alliance is a unique and inclusive partnership which
encompasses a robust and innovative approach to fighting extreme poverty through
helping to ensure that every child everywhere has the best start in life.
As you reflect on the SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda, we invite member
states to look more closely at the experience of Gavi’s 21st century development model
and think of how to build on the lessons we have learned and apply them to other
development challenges.
Thank you.
Statement by Mercy Ahun, Gavi’s Special Representative to GAVI-eligible
countries
Informal interactive hearings on the post-2015 development agenda
27 May 2015
Check against delivery
Friends and colleagues, it is an honor for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to be among you
today engaged in discussions that will help unite the world further in our efforts to
ensure sustainable development. It is by working in partnership that we will hand over
a world free of extreme poverty and debilitating diseases - a world where prosperity is
shared equitably across the globe.
Equity is at the core of Gavi’s business. When global leaders gathered in Berlin
exactly four months ago today and pleadged in excess of $7.5 billion to support Gavi’s
work for the next five years, it was under the banner of ‘Reach Every Child’.
Agreeing on a blueprint to deliver the sustainable development goals is simply mission
critical. In our Alliance we often say that while what we do is important - is how we do
it that leads to lasting impact.
Gavi was created in 2000 with an MDG-inspired mission to help save children’s lives
and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
The Secretary-General, Ban-Ki Moon, speaks of Gavi as a leading example of a truly
global partnership that is delivering specific results.
Let me share with you some reflections on our experience that may inform how we
implement the post 2015 agenda.
The Gavi story begins towards the end of the 20th century, when global immunisation
efforts were beginning to plateau. After rapid growth in the 1980s, vaccine coverage
was stagnating and in some places even declining. And even though new life-saving
vaccines were becoming available, virtually none were reaching children in developing
countries, those who needed them the most.
What was needed was an entirely new approach. A unique public-private partnership,
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was created to bring together the best of what key UN
agencies, governments, the vaccine industry, private sector and civil society had to offer
in order to improve childhood immunisation coverage in poor countries and to
accelerate access to new vaccines.
2
This model was designed to leverage not just financial resources but expertise too, to
help make vaccines more affordable, more available and their provision more
sustainable, by working towards a point where developing countries can pay for them
themselves. It is a 21st century development model for a new millennium and one
which works. By 2015 Gavi has reached 500 million additional children since its
creation, preventing more than 7 million deaths in the process.
The mechanism we put in place to ensure meaningful and inclusive participation of our
stakeholders is exemplified by our multi-stakeholder Board, which helps ensure
partner collaboration and increased accountability.
Donor governments and implementing country governments are organised in
constituencies and represented in equal numbers on the Gavi Board.
But one lesson from Gavi is the need to ensure more equality in intergovernmental
discussion. For example, we have had to explore ways of trying to ensure that the
voice of developing country governments is able to be heard. After all, the five Ministers
of Health who sit on the Gavi Board have a day job is to run their health services. The
five donor government representatives’ day job is to manage ODA contributions,
including to Gavi.
Let me move to financing. Globally we recognise that we need strong ODA
commitments, innovative mechanisms to leverage ODA more smartly and we also need
domestic financing. Gavi combines all three. Gavi’s resource mobilisation model is
often referred to as the three legged stool. One leg being our donor base including
innovative financing mechanisms, the second leg is domestic co-financing and the third
leg is market shaping.
The vast majority of GAVI’s funds come from governments as ODA. Donors have been
attracted to Gavi because we help countries to achieve real and measurable results –
childrens’ lives saved and illness averted. But they are also attracted by our business
model and approach to innovation, including in innovative finance, where we make
smarter use of ODA commitments.
One of the key innovative initiatives launched by Gavi is the International Finance
Facility for Immunisation. IFFIm, as it is known, is one of the most successful
innovative financing tools of the MDG period. It has leveraged Official Development
Assistance to raise more than US$5 billion in the capital markets over the last decade
through the issuance of vaccine bonds.
Thanks to IFFIm’s ability to shift funds through time, Gavi has been able to deliver
support for new vaccines many years in advance of donor payments, accessing future
cash inflows to immunise children today. The flexibility of the mechanism also recently
3
proved valuable as a potential stand-by funding source to enable Gavi’s rapid response
to the Ebola crisis.
The GAVI Matching Fund is another innovative way of leveraging additional financing.
Every Pound or Dollar or Euro contributed by the private sector is matched by a Pound
or Dollar or Euro from the UK Government and the Gates Foundation. This has already
resulted in over US$246 million raised, including the match. As importantly, it has
brought private sector expertise into some of our most difficult problem areas like how
to improve the vaccine supply chain and improve data sharing.
We are honored that the Mission of Australia and Liberia to the UN are hosting a
briefing tomorrow at 1.15 in Conference Room D on Gavi’s experience with innovative
financing mechanisms. I invite you all to attend.
Moving to that second leg of the Gavi three-legged resource mobilisation stool: Through
Gavi’s co-financing policy all countries contribute a share of the cost of new vaccines,
which gradually transfers responsibility for funding the vaccines to the government.
The co-financing share of the costs are determined by the governments’ ability to pay,
which adjusts as a country’s economy grows.
The third leg is Gavi’s explicit focus on market shaping. The 73 countries to which Gavi
offers support make up 60 per cent of the children born around the world each year. By
aggregating that birth cohort – and by bringing together large-scale donor financing –
we are transforming the global vaccine market to the benefit of the lowest income
countries. By bringing private and public sector partners together, leveraging ODA in
smart ways and taking a market-based approach to development, we are seeking to
ensure sufficient supply of appropriate, quality vaccines at low and sustainable
prices.
Gavi is looking to accelerate our efforts over the coming five years and expect to help
developing countries to immunize an additional 300 million children, leading to 5 to
6 million more lives saved.
So in conclusion: The Vaccine Alliance is a unique and inclusive partnership which
encompasses a robust and innovative approach to fighting extreme poverty through
helping to ensure that every child everywhere has the best start in life.
As you reflect on the SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda, we invite member
states to look more closely at the experience of Gavi’s 21st century development model
and think of how to build on the lessons we have learned and apply them to other
development challenges.
Thank you.