New global partnership to focus on reducing maternal and newborn mortality

USAID, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Government of Norway, Grand Challenges Canada, and the World Bank will announce tomorrow a new partnership that will seek innovative solutions to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in developing countries. The launch event will be webcast live tomorrow (March 9) at 9:00am EST.

UK Govt. and Gates Foundation announce new commitment to eradicating Polio

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Gates announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed an additional $102 million to support efforts to eradicate Polio.  British Prime Minister David Cameron also announced that the United Kingdom would double its current contribution to polio eradication (to a total of 60 million pounds). [...]

GAVI welcomes a new global commitment to vaccines

A new partnership was announced today, injecting additional funding into the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation’s (GAVI) efforts to help save millions of children.  His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation entered [...]

Economic benefits of polio eradication estimated at US$40-50 billion

A new study, published in the journal Vaccine, estimates that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) could provide net benefits of at least US$40-50 billion if transmission of wild polioviruses is interrupted within the next five years. The study considers investments made since the GPEI was formed in 1988 and those anticipated through 2035. Over [...]

Gates Foundation – 60 Minutes Interview

A very interesting interview on 60 minutes with Bill and Melinda Gates highlighting the work and priorities of the Gates Foundation. Asked what the foundation’s global priorities are, Melinda Gates said, “HIV/AIDS, malaria, mother-and-child deaths, in that order.”

Immunization and the MDGs – report from the Red Cross/Red Crescent and GAVI Alliance

A new joint report (Immunization:  unfinished business) from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socieities (IFRC) and the GAVI Alliance highlights the health impacts of vaccines and the value of partnerships in achieving complex goals such as Millennium Development Goal 4 — the reduction of childhood mortality. The report highlights that: Immunization [...]

Fighting neglected diseases: anti-TB compounds offer hope

Compounds being developed against tuberculosis also show promise against deadly tropical diseases threatening millions of people.  As reported by Reuters, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has granted the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) rights to develop a class of potential anti-TB compounds offering hope of treating Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness and [...]

$4.3 billion needed to fund vaccines for world’s poor

$4.3 billion is needed if the GAVI Alliance is to meet its goal of supplying life-saving immunizations to millions of children in poor countries by 2015.  In 2000, world leaders from 189 countries signed up to the Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015. GAVI, which is supported by the World [...]

Revolutionizing immunization campaigns? New technology keeps vaccines stable at tropical temperatures

British scientists have found a cheap and simple way of keeping vaccines stable, even at tropical temperatures, which could transform immunization campaigns in the developing world (Reuters). The ability to transport vaccines at normal temperatures would reduce cost and greatly improve access to vaccines. The newly discovered method involves mixing the vaccine with the sugars [...]

$10 billion commitment to vaccine research and delivery – Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that they will commit $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries (read more).  The Foundation estimates that increased vaccination could save more than 8 million children by 2020. “We must make this the decade of [...]