BLOG

Innovative Financing scheme means pneumococcal vaccines could save seven million childrens’ lives (2009-07-08 00:00:00)

by CLH 8 July 2009

Italy’s Minister Tremonti has led the way for a global drive to introduce pneumococcal vaccines in developing countries which could prevent more than seven million child deaths by 2030.
The Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a new innovative financing scheme, will act as an incentive for pharmaceutical companies to provide new vaccines which are desperately needed.
The scheme will work by using donor advance commitments to subsidise the purchase of effective vaccines – once they have been developed and made available at a low cost and long term price – thereby creating commercial demand for the vaccines.
Donors have committed a total of $1.5 billion to the scheme which was launched earlier this week at the meeting of G8 Finance Ministers in Italy.
The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) have contributed around $485 million to the scheme.
Douglas Alexander, UK’s International Development Secretary, said: "Pneumococcal diseases kill 1.6 million people every year – including up to one million infants. Over 90% of these deaths are in developing countries.
"In the current global economic downturn, it is more important than ever that we don’t turn our backs on the world’s poor and do all in our power to reach those most in need.
"The AMC is a hugely important step towards securing the introduction of vaccines that can save millions of lives in developing countries. That is why we are keen to continue to expand the scope of innovative financing mechanisms like this."
The UK has led efforts to utilise innovative financing solutions for health through its £1.38 billion support to the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm).
IFFIm has already raised over $2 billion for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) which has helped stamp out a polio outbreak in 2007 by immunising over 100m children; has vaccinated 194 million children against measles; and doubled the number of women being targeted with tetanus vaccine.
In March IFFIm and GAVI launched the HSBC Immunisation ISA which enabled British savers to invest their money in immunisation programmes with a fixed interest of 16.2% over 5 years. The ISA has raised more than £266 million and will help immunise up to 35 million people in 70 developing countries.

Donors to the AMC on pneumococcal disease are: Italy ($635m), UK ($485m), Canada ($200m), Russia ($80m), Norway ($50m), and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($50m) – totalling $1.5bn.
More information on AMCs is at: www.vaccineamc.org
More information on the IFFIm is available at: www.iff-immunisation.org/