Polio … (+) (Poliovirus) Stock photo showing a labeled glass vial of vaccine, as well as a close-up view of a stethoscope and a syringe.
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The ice and snow that covers Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in winter is no match for Zubaida Bibi. These proud frontline health workers are on a self-proclaimed mission: “Saving our children’s future from polio.”
In 1988, there were an estimated 350,000 cases of wild poliovirus (WPV) in more than 125 countries. Last year, there were only 12 cases of WPV1 infection in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Bibi still remembers the days when parents would hide their children from medical personnel. “I got to know the community and built their trust,” she explained to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Some parents now ask her to give their name so they can get their children vaccinated.
A few months ago, I shared the story of one of the greatest successes in global health over the past 30 years: the reduction in child mortality. Much of this success can be traced back to vaccinations and people like Bibi, who travel door-to-door in the scorching heat and freezing cold to meet parents and explain the life-saving benefits of vaccines.
Many organizations are playing a critical role in vaccinating the world’s most vulnerable people, but few are doing more to save lives than Gavi (Vaccine Alliance). Gavi has announced an ambitious five-year plan to immunize 500 million children and save an additional 8 million lives by 2030. Here’s what this means for the future of global health.
Gavi’s history
In the 1950s, a smallpox epidemic affected around 60 countries around the world. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) was still in its infancy, by 1980 smallpox had become the first infectious disease to be eradicated. This remarkable achievement has inspired global health advocates to think about other diseases they can tackle next. The 1980s represented a boom in vaccinations against diseases such as polio and measles, but the progress was short-lived. As the population grew, vaccine distribution could not keep up. Due to equity issues, some vaccines were made available in northern regions but not in the south. The same problem occurred with drugs to fight AIDS.
The 1990 World Summit for Children brought together public sector and philanthropic leaders, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, and the WHO, to launch vaccines for children. Ta. initiative. Over the next decade, the partnership worked to expand vaccine coverage for diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, and measles, promote vaccine research, and facilitate coordination on vaccine supply.
In 2000, the Children’s Vaccines Initiative led the way to the Gavi Alliance, now Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), an innovative public-private partnership aimed at saving lives and protecting the health of people, especially children. I gave it away. Thanks to generous contributions from donors such as the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States and the Gates Foundation, Gavi has allocated approximately $23 billion to date to expand global immunization efforts in low- and middle-income countries ( Disclosure: (RED), the organization I lead is a Gates Foundation grantee).
Gabi’s influence
Since its founding in 2000, Gavi has helped vaccinate more than 1 billion children in the world’s poorest countries and prevented more than 17.3 million deaths. Vaccines are given against 20 diseases, from measles to human papillomavirus (HPV).
In recent years, the organization has also evolved to address the growing link between climate change and global health. As temperatures rise, Gabi is on the front lines, fighting waterborne diseases such as cholera and animal-borne diseases such as yellow fever and malaria that spread in warmer climates.
There is much work to be done. HPV vaccination rates among girls have increased steadily since 2020, but COVID-19 has caused a major setback in overall immunization rates. This summer, WHO and UNICEF released new data showing that an additional 2.7 million children are unvaccinated or undervaccinated compared to 2019 pre-COVID-19 levels. By 2022, more than 14 million children will be protected from life-saving diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccines, and approximately 6 million more children will be only partially vaccinated. did.
“Recent trends show that many countries continue to leave far too many children alone,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “Closing the immunization gap is a world in which governments, partners and community leaders invest in primary health care and community workers to ensure all children are vaccinated and strengthen overall health care.” We need a lot of effort.”
What’s next?
Earlier this year, Gavi launched an investment deal entitled ‘Protecting Our Future’. The roadmap outlines the organization’s strategy through 2030 and calls for at least $11.9 billion in funding to put Gavi on track to vaccinate 500 million children over the next five years. To date, Gabi has received approximately $2.4 billion in commitments. This includes $1.58 billion committed by the United States over the next five years, an 8% increase from the United States’ previous supply commitment.
As part of the plan, Gavi also announced the creation of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA). One of the many important lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic was that African countries cannot expect the world’s richest countries to share vaccines equitably. Africa accounts for nearly one-fifth of the world’s population, but by January 2022 Africa had received only 6% of all COVID-19 vaccines produced, leaving millions of Africans vulnerable. Front-line workers, the elderly and the immunocompromised are left vulnerable. The AVMA aims to invest $1.2 billion to expand vaccine production on the continent.
Gabi’s aggressive fundraising efforts will ultimately culminate in a final pledge event, likely to be held around spring 2025. This will be a key global health moment. The event will be the first of several over the next year, and will also be hosted by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Although these two organizations have different missions, the future of global health is focused on providing simple, cost-effective global solutions to ensure universal access to disease prevention and treatment. It depends on whether both organizations have the necessary resources.
hope for the future
Vaccines have received renewed attention in recent years, resurfacing painful mistakes of the past and raising questions around misinformation, inequity and injustice. Zubaida Bibi is an example of how global health activists can slowly build community trust and support for vaccines.
“I know every pregnant woman and she tells me when her due date is. Now mothers regularly ask me about the next vaccination campaign,” she said. Ta.
It’s still unclear what workers like Bibi will do next after polio. One thing is certain: Gavi and its frontline workers continue to be relied upon by the world to protect children from devastating diseases and prevent future outbreaks before they become pandemics. is.
