Immunization is one of the most cost-effective health interventions.
With the first vaccines delivered through the Global Fund, we are seeing the very real change GAVI is beginning to make for people and communities. Vaccines are an excellent way to protect people against disease, and we know that preventing disease helps protect children and their families from falling into poverty. GAVI is a coalition of organizations formed in 1999 in response to stagnating global immunization rates and widening disparities in vaccine access among industrialized and developing countries. Still more will be required financially and otherwise to build up and maintain strong immunization programs in all of these countries. Over the long haul, financial sustainability of well-functioning immunization and health systems is key.