A Rwandan woman refugee health worker, trained by the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres, vaccinates a child held by her mother, in a crowded tent in the Benaco Camp in the remote Ngara district of north-western Tanzania. How children's lives can be saved. A chance to immunize more children . The 24 November gift set the stage for further and more complete announcements about the Fund and GAVI in Davos, Switzerland on January 31, 2000. Current immunization efforts save as many as three million young lives a year and prevent an estimated 750,000 cases of blindness, paralysis and mental disability annually.
Immunization remains the most cost-effective means of preventing disease.
Much of the investment in building the infrastructure for routine immunization has already been made. Now, in addition to providing continuing protection against diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles and tuberculosis, GAVI will support developing country efforts to tackle other potential killers, including hepatitis B, Hib and yellow fever.