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A New Way to Fund Life-Saving Vaccines
By Keith R | April 3, 2009
Topics: Health Issues | 1 Comment »
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Loading...From the World Bank:
Funding New Vaccines To Save Millions Of Lives
- World Bank to Provide Financial Platform for Pilot Vaccine Program
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a financial platform for a pilot vaccine program that will benefit millions of children in the developing world.
The Advance Market Commitment (AMC) pilot will help accelerate the creation of a viable market for pneumococcal vaccines by providing up-front financing for incremental costs of vaccine production to meet demand from developing countries.
“This program will give children in developing countries timely access to safe, effective vaccines, at affordable prices. We are very pleased to join donors and partners on this innovative and life-saving effort,” said World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick.
An AMC is a commitment to finance the future purchase, up to a pre-determined price, of a vaccine needed in developing countries. Pneumococcal infections are the largest killers of children worldwide. Immunization is estimated to prevent more than two million deaths globally each year from infectious diseases. Yet, there has been chronic underinvestment in suitable new vaccines. It is estimated that AMC funds will help immunize nearly 700 million infants, directly preventing about 2.8 million deaths through 2020. In addition, it is estimated that the accelerated introduction of pneumococcal vaccines will prevent another 4.9 million deaths.
The $1.5 billion donor subsidy for the AMC pilot, which will be placed on the balance sheet of the World Bank Group’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), will be funded by six donors: Italy ($635 million); the United Kingdom ($485 million); Canada ($200 million); Russia ($80 million); Norway ($50 million); and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($50 million). The IBRD will provide standard financial management and administrative services regarding donor contributions, AMC commitments, and disbursements.
The World Bank has been closely engaged over several years in the development of the pilot AMC providing support to donors and leadership on health, finance and legal aspects of its design and implementation. “Establishing the AMC subsidy on IBRD’s balance sheet responds to a specific request from donors, who believe that IBRD’s direct financial support will maximize the financial efficiency, simplicity and credibility of the AMC,” said Philippe Le Houérou, World Bank Vice-President for Concessional Finance and Global Partnerships. “With today’s approval the pilot should be ready to be launched in two to three months.”
The GAVI Alliance and the World Bank will be the lead implementing partners for the AMC pilot, with technical support from the World Health Organization and with UNICEF as procurement agent for low-income countries. “The pilot AMC will demonstrate both the feasibility and the impact of the AMC mechanism and help determine if AMCs can help accelerate other health priorities, such as vaccines against malaria,” said Joy Phumaphi, World Bank Vice-President for Human Development.
Tags: advance market commitment, Banco Mundial, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Canada, GAVI, Italia, Italy, Noruega, Norway, OMS, pneumococcal infections, Russia, UK, UNICEF, vaccines, vacunas, WHO, World Bank
April 29th, 2009 at 23:54
Nice website. Enjoyed looking through your articles.