Program Area
Global Health

Our Goal
Prevent needless deaths in the world’s poorest countries by increasing access to basic vaccines and speeding the introduction of new vaccines.

Our Progress in Brief
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which the foundation helped to launch in 1999, has made significant progress. Children’s immunization is no longer a neglected area, and immunization rates are once again on the rise after a decade of stagnation. One of the best indicators of immunization coverage is the percentage of the world’s children who receive DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) vaccine. When GAVI was launched, 71 percent of the world’s children were receiving DTP vaccine. By 2004, the rate had increased to 78 percent. 

GAVI has concentrated the greatest percentage of its resources on speeding the introduction of newer, more expensive vaccines, including hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae B (Hib), and yellow fever. The vaccine for hepatitis B, for example, had been widely used in rich countries for 20 years but was severely underutilized in the developing world because of a lack of political will and the vaccine’s relatively high cost. Today, 90 million children in the developing world have received the vaccine because of the alliance’s efforts. The progress on Hib and yellow fever has been slower—an additional 14 million children have received Hib and yellow fever vaccines.

Next: The Challenge

Information in this case study is accurate as of June 2006