This is the power of immunization. It is an unacceptable tragedy that today, nearly one million children die of measles every year because they didn't have access to the very cheap and effective vaccine that is available. It is an unacceptable tragedy that today, years after vaccines against hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B became available, most of the people who face the greatest risk of contracting those infections, do not have access to them. Even though we all have been involved in immunization for a long time, done a lot of work, and achieved a lot of successes - we still have a long way to go. And the GAVI partners don't want to just see results, we want to see sustainable results.
Quick solutions offer brief resolutions.
Change must be lasting. It is clear that we cannot get there without the involvement of all partners involved in immunization, health and development. The challenges and opportunities today are bigger than any one partner can tackle - or even two. No, we need everyone - industry, NGOs, multinationals, bilateral agencies, international development banks, and most crucially, the active involvement of national government health programmes. So the GAVI partners are moving rapidly along two parallel tracks.