Five nations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launch Advance Market Commitment for vaccines to combat deadly disease in poor nations
ROME, 9 February: Italy, Canada, Norway, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Friday committed 1,5 billion US dollar to launch the first Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to help speed the development and availability of a new vaccine which is expected to save the lives of 5,4 million children by 2030.
The AMC pilot represents the first step in a historic effort to create a market for life-saving vaccines for children in the worlds poorest countries. The new initiative will target pneumococcal disease, a major cause of pneumonia (lungebetændelse) and meningitis (hjernehindebetændelse) that kills 1,6 million people every year.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz joined Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and high-level representatives of Canada, Italy, Norway, Russia, and the UK in announcing the pilot AMC, which will test a new model for spurring development of vaccines, specifically those that prevent disease strains prevalent in developing countries.
The pilot will provide 7 to 10 years of funding to support the development of future vaccines against pneumococcal disease and will include provisions to assure the long term sustainable supply and price for the poorest countries.
– With the launch of the first AMC, we can save lives, and we will do it with the investment and expertise of industry, said Wolfowitz, adding: – The key aim is to accelerate the production of viable and urgently needed vaccines for the poorest countries where thousands of children die every day from diseases that can be prevented.
The AMC concept was developed in response to a tragic dilemma, noted Italian Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, whose government has committed an astounding 635 million US dollar to the AMC pilot.
– The AMCs are an absolutely innovative approach which combines market-based financing tools with public intervention. This innovative instrument opens a new frontier in the financing of the fight against poverty and endemic diseases, said Padoa-Schioppa, whose ministry has led the drive to adopt the AMC pilot.
– International projects such as this one will make possible to save millions of human lives and demonstrate that development can and must go together with the need to ensure equality and guarantees of a better future for the poorest and the weakest, noted he.
The AMC for pneumococcal disease will offer an improved market for vaccines now in development. Vaccines are bought only if they meet pre-determined standards of efficacy (effektivitet) and safety, and if developing countries ask for them. After 7 to 10 years, the AMC funding is likely to be depleted. The AMC will include terms that help assure a sustained and affordable supply in the long term.
Queen Rania, a member of the board of the GAVI Fund, pointed out that in the poorest regions of the world, two to three million children die of preventable diseases every year.
She took particular note of the donor nations that are helping to meet the goal of reducing by two-thirds the number of deaths among the worlds most vulnerable children.
Julian Lob-Levyt, executive secretary of the GAVI Alliance, noted that an early version of pneumococcal vaccine is being widely used in developed countries with striking success in preventing disease.
However, he added, manufacturers lack the capacity to provide a vaccine well-suited to the developing world on a large scale, and extended protection vaccines are needed to bring pneumococcal disease under control in developing countries.
An independent expert committee, with representation from developing and industrialised countries, recommended that pneumococcal disease be the target of the initial AMC pilot. Going forward, the AMC will be overseen by an independent assessment committee, which will set and monitor standards for the vaccines.
The World Health Organization will facilitate the establishment of the target product profile and assess the quality, safety and immunogenicity of AMC vaccines. The GAVI Alliance and the World Bank will be responsible for supporting the programmatic and financial functions of the AMC.
– We expect that new pneumococcal vaccines will reach developing countries by 2010, at least 10 years earlier than if the AMC were not available, Lob-Levyt said. – Todays decision will save lives by bolstering efforts to prevent this disease, while paving the way for future AMCs focused on other deadly diseases, explained he.
AMC Contribution in US dollar
Italy – 635 Million
UK – 485 Million
Canada – 200 Million
Russia – 80 Million
Norway – 50 Million
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -50 Million
total -1,5 Billion
The World Bank
The Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The Bank comprises two unique development institutions owned by 184 member countries – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each institution plays a distinct role in the Banks mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards.
The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. Together, these two institutions provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits, and grants to developing countries for health, education, infrastructure, communications, and other development purposes. For more information, see www.worldbank.org.
The GAVI Alliance
The 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.
GAVIs 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. See more on www.gavialliance.org
Kilde: www.vaccineamc.org
