NAIROBI, Kenya, May 4 – Amref Health Africa will host the Gavi Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Steering Committee in a new partnership to harness the full potential of civil society to deliver on Gavi’s ambitious mission to leave no one behind with immunization.
The announcement builds on the momentum created by a Gavi Board-approved initiative to support and empower civil society organizations and communities to identify and reach underserved and missed communities.
Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group Chief Executive Officer, Amref Health Africa lauded the partnership as a unique opportunity to include beneficiary communities and to ensure immunization remains a core intervention to deliver the existing global health goals.
“Hosting the Gavi CSO Constituency is an exciting opportunity for Amref to support the overall global immunization agenda – IA2030 – by expanding and deepening civil society engagement with key stakeholders, including government leaders, and multilateral partners, private sector organizations and grassroots communities,” said Dr. Gitahi.
Gavi’s Deputy CEO Anuradha Gupta noted the importance of CSOs as critical to reaching the most marginalised, as they understand the specific needs and context of these populations and have the trust and confidence of the communities.
“Civil society organisations are critical to reaching the most marginalised, as they understand the specific needs and context of these populations and have the trust and confidence of the communities we are trying to serve,” said Gupta.
“We are counting on Amref and civil society partners to help us strengthen political commitment and accountability, build trust in vaccines, and support delivery of immunization services so that no one is left behind,” she added.
World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that there are vaccines to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives.
Immunization currently prevents 3.5-5 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza and measles.
“Immunization is a key component of primary health care and an indisputable human right. It’s also one of the best health investments money can buy. Vaccines are also critical to the prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks. They underpin global health security and will be a vital tool in the battle against antimicrobial resistance,” noted the WHO.
Yet despite tremendous progress, vaccination coverage has plateaued in recent years and even dropped for the first time in a decade in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated disruptions over the past two year have strained health systems, with 23 million children missing out on vaccination in 2020, 3.7 million more than in 2019 and the highest number since 2009.
Preliminary data from 2021 show continued disruption but more positively, by the end of 2021, nearly all countries had introduced COVID-19 vaccination, and by early 2022 one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been delivered through COVAX.
“Hosting the Gavi CSO Constituency is an exciting opportunity for Amref to support the overall global immunisation agenda – IA2030 – by expanding and deepening civil society engagement with key stakeholders, including government leaders, multilateral partners, private sector organisations and grassroots communities,” stated Dr. Gitahi.
Amref will also ensure there is coordination between the Gavi Secretariat, the Gavi CSO Steering Committee and the Constituency and will manage communications on key and relevant issues for the civil society immunisation community.
Meanwhile, the current Chair of the Gavi CSO Steering Committee, Dr. Sheetal Sharma noted, “CSOs will continue to amplify the community voices and work with all partners at global, regional, national, and subnational levels to ensure immunisation remains a core intervention to deliver the existing global health goals.”
The decision makes Amref Health Africa the first organisation located in a lower middle-income country to host the CSO platform for a period of three years ending 2024.
