Gates’ $10 billion vaccines pledge to cut child mortality
pharmafile | February 1, 2010 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Gates Foundation, developing world, vaccines
Bill and Melinda Gates are to spend $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries, with the aim of saving millions of lives.
The billionaire couple are investing the money into the world’s poorest countries, and say that as many as eight million children could be prevented from dying if governments and the private sector contribute to the initiative.
“We must make this the decade of vaccines,” said Bill Gates. “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.”
Bill and Melinda Gates made their announcement at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, where they were joined by Julian Lob-Levyt, chief executive of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).
“Vaccines are a miracle – with just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime,” said Melinda Gates. “We’ve made vaccines our number-one priority at the Gates Foundation because we’ve seen firsthand their incredible impact on children’s lives.”
A consortium led by the Institute of International Programs at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health helped to calculate the potential impact of vaccines on childhood deaths over the next 10 years.
They estimate that by raising the level of life-saving vaccines in developing countries to 90% coverage – including new vaccines to prevent severe diarrhoea and pneumonia – the number of deaths prevented could total around 7.6 million children under five, between 2010-2019.
The foundation also estimates that an additional 1.1 million children could be saved with the rapid introduction of a malaria vaccine beginning in 2014, bringing the total number of potential lives saved to 8.7 million.
Even more lives could be saved in addition to this if new vaccines for diseases such as tuberculosis area developed and distributed.
The new funding comes on top of the $4.5 billion the Gates Foundation has already committed to vaccine R&D and delivery since it was set up.
Progress in vaccination development
Bill and Melinda Gates said their pledge was inspired by the remarkable progress made on vaccines in recent years. For example:
Record-breaking vaccine access: New WHO data show that global vaccination rates have reached all-time highs, rebounding from years of decline in the 1990s. Between 2000 and 2009, the percentage of children receiving the basic DTP3 vaccine in the poorest countries of the world rose from 66% to 79%, the highest on record. The number of people who died of measles worldwide fell by 77% between 2000 and 2008, and in Africa, measles deaths fell by 92%.
Improved routine immunisation: Partnerships focused on reducing diseases like polio and measles are also helping build a stronger foundation for the delivery of both new and existing vaccines. Trained health workers, proper cold chain function, and surveillance are all necessary to ensure vaccines reach every child who needs them.
New vaccine introduction: Important new vaccines for the two leading causes of global child deaths-severe diarrhea and pneumonia-are becoming available. Research published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that introducing a rotavirus vaccine in South Africa and Malawi reduced severe diarrhea caused by the virus by more than 60%.
R&D momentum: The vaccine research and development pipeline is more robust than ever. Late-stage trials have begun on a promising vaccine to protect children from malaria, and a new vaccine to prevent meningitis outbreaks in Africa is likely to be introduced this year.
Public-private partnerships
The Gates Foundation says many recent advances in vaccine development and delivery have been driven by public-private partnerships such as the GAVI Alliance, of which all the leading pharmaceutical/vaccines companies are members.
Jean Stéphenne, president and general manager of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals was elected in 2007 by the ‘Vaccine Industry CEOs’ to be their representative on the GAVI Alliance board and executive committee, and began a three mandate in June 2008.
Another public-private aliance is the Rotavirus Vaccine Programme at PATH, which co-ordinates the resources and expertise of vaccine companies, donors, UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank, and developing countries.
Mr Gates said these partnerships are “transforming the business of vaccines”.
The GAVI Alliance was launched at the World Economic Forum 10 years ago this week-has reached 257 million additional children with new and underused vaccines, and prevented five million future deaths. In the coming years, GAVI will focus on rapidly introducing vaccines to tackle diarrhea and pneumonia.
“Investments in global immunisation have yielded an extraordinary return,” said Julian Lob-Levyt. “The GAVI Alliance was founded just 10 years ago and has already saved five million lives by increasing access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries. The potential to make bigger strides in the coming decade is even more exciting.”
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