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WORLDWIDE
MEASLES DRIVE RECEIVES $139 MILLION FROM GAVI
ALLIANCE, UNF REPORTS (MaximsNews.com, U.N.)
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“The
United Nations Foundation – and everyone
who cares about the health of children around
the world – is grateful for GAVI’s
support of the Measles Initiative. The Measles
Initiative and GAVI
are two of the most successful global health
initiatives in recent years,” said Timothy E.
Wirth, President of the UN
Foundation.
“Together we are
demonstrating what can be accomplished when the
public and private sectors work together to
solve major global issues,” he said.
Last month the Measles
Initiative announced that measles mortality had
been reduced by 60 percent between 1999 and
2005. “GAVI’s new support, generated from a
new financing initiative, is a major ‘shot in
the arm’ for the global effort to reduce
measles deaths by 90 percent by 2010” Wirth
added.
“Vaccines are a best buy in
health, as demonstrated by the dramatic drop in
measles-related deaths we have recently
witnessed,” said Julian Lob-Levyt, Executive
Secretary of the GAVI Alliance.
“We will invest the
resources it takes to save children from deadly
diseases such as measles, working together with
partners such as the UN Foundation and the
Measles Initiative,” Lob-Levyt continued.
“Long term commitments and partnerships of
this kind are crucial if we are to reach the
Millennium Development Goals on health” he
concluded.
GAVI’s US$139 million
contribution to the Measles Initiative is made
possible by an innovative new initiative known
as the International
Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). (IFFIm)
has been designed to accelerate the availability
of funds to be used for health and immunisation
programmess in 70 of the world’s poorest
countries. The Measles Initiative is one of the
first programmes to benefit from IFFIm
funding.
"The IFFIm was designed
to accelerate availability of resources for
priority immunisation programmes. The Measles
Initiative presents a particularly strong case
for this significant investment, and we are very
pleased that priority measles campaigns will
receive a significant boost as a result of this
contribution,” said Alan Gillespie, Chair of
the (IFFIm)
Board.
Measles deaths have fallen by
60 percent worldwide since 1999 – a major
public health success. This exceeds the United
Nations goal to cut measles deaths in half
between 1999 and 2005.
The Measles Initiative is a
long-term partnership between the American Red
Cross, the United States Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the UN Foundation,
UNICEF and the World Health Organization
(WHO).
Recent data from the WHO,
released at the Annual Meeting of the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, also
showed that support from GAVI and the Measles
Initiative partners had helped increase overall
immunization rates in poor countries to an
all-time high, 77 percent in 2006 from 63
percent in 1999*.
More than 360 million
children were vaccinated between 2000 and 2005
as a result of Measles Initiative campaigns. The
US$139 million GAVI contribution to the UN
Foundation will help expand the Measles
Initiative’s global efforts over the next four
years. In 2007, planned measles campaigns are
expected to reach 195 million children in at
least 32 countries; in 2008, campaigns will
target 79.4 million children in at least 14
countries.
Measles vaccination campaigns
are also contributing to the reduction of child
deaths from other causes. They have become a
channel for the delivery of other life-saving
interventions, such as bed nets to protect
against malaria, de-worming medicine, and
vitamin A supplements.
Combining measles
immunisation with other health interventions is
a contribution towards achieving Millennium
Development Goal Number 4: a two-thirds
reduction in child deaths between 1990 and
2015.
*DPT3 Coverage estimates by WHO.
About the UN Foundation
The UN Foundation was created
in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted
Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support
UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation
builds and implements public-private
partnerships to address the world’s most
pressing problems and also works to broaden
support for the UN through advocacy and public
outreach. The UN Foundation is a public charity.
www.unfoundation.org
About the GAVI
Alliance
An alliance of all the major
stakeholders in immunisation, the GAVI
Alliance includes among its partners
developing country and donor governments, the
World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the
World Bank, the vaccine industry in both
industrialised and developing countries,
research and technical agencies, NGOs, and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is
estimated that more than 2.3 million early
deaths will have been prevented as a result of
support by GAVI up to the end of 2006. GAVI's
efforts are critical to achieving the Millennium
Development Goal on child health, which calls
for reducing childhood mortality by two-thirds
by 2015. Of the more than 10 million children
who die before reaching their fifth birthday
every year, 2.5 million die from diseases that
could be prevented with currently available or
new vaccines. For more information visit www.gavialliance.org
About the (IFFIm)
The aim of the International
Finance Facility for Immunisation Company (IFFIm)
is to accelerate the availability of funds to be
used for health and immunisation programmes
through the GAVI Alliance in 70 of the world’s
poorest countries. By investing the majority of
resources up front—“frontloading”—this
innovative funding programme will increase
significantly the flow of aid during the years
up to and including 2015. An anticipated IFFIm
investment of US$4 billion is expected to help
prevent five million child deaths between 2006
and 2015. For more information visit: www.iff-immunisation.org
~~~~~~~~~
Press Contacts: Katherine
Miller, Communications Director,
United Nations Foundation, 202.778.1622, kmiller@unfoundation.org
Amy DiElsi, Press Secretary, United Nations
Foundation
202.887.9040, adielsi@unfoundation.org;
Ruth
Landy, Communications, GAVI Alliance,
+41.22.909.6525, rlandy@gavialliance.org
~~~~~
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