Vaccine investment strategy determines which vaccines GAVI offers to countries. Vaccines recommended in 2008 target cervical cancer, Japanese encephalitis, rubella, and typhoid. In 2013 GAVI will develop a new vaccine investment strategy for the period 2014-2019.
As part of its future vaccine investment strategy, GAVI has prioritised human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, which help protect women from cervical cancer.
In the past 10 years, GAVI has successfully helped increase developing countries' access to life-saving vaccines against hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), yellow fever, measles 2nd dose and, most recently, rotavirus and pneumococcal diseases.
The Alliance's Vaccine Investment Strategy, developed in 2008, considered additional support for vaccines that offer protection from other deadly infections. The vaccines that were prioritized, which are either already available or expected in the near future, target the following diseases:
GAVI's choiceThe GAVI Board selected these diseases from an original shortlist of 18 provided by WHO in 2007. The Board's final decision was based on the potential health impact as well as the costs and challenges of introducing each vaccine in developing countries. The 2008 vaccine investment strategy was the product of a process of consultations and analytical work. Hundreds of interviews were conducted with representatives from developing countries eligible to apply for GAVI support as well as GAVI partners including donor organisations, academic institutions, the pharmaceutical industry and global health leaders. |
Cervical cancer
About half a million women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, of whom about 80 percent live in developing countries.
Typhoid
The disease remains a serious public health problem around the world, with an estimated 16-33 million cases and 216,000 to 600,000 deaths annually.
Japanese encephalitis
This seasonal endemic hits parts of China, the Russian Federation's south-east, and South and South-East Asia. Estimated annual mortality ranges from 10-15,000 deaths, while the total number of clinical cases may be as high as 50,000.
Rubella
When a woman is infected with the rubella virus early in pregnancy, she has a 90% chance of passing the virus on to her fetus. This can cause the death of the fetus, or it may cause congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) - an important cause of severe birth defects in the ears, eyes, heart and brain. It is estimated that there are 110,000 cases of CRS each year.
Meningitis, an infection of the lining that covers the brain and spinal cord, has a variety of different causes, the most frequent being either viral or bacterial, one of which is meningococcus. Five main meningococcal groups have been identified: in Africa, group A predominates, causing approximately 85% of observed meningococcal meningitis there.
Every year meningitis epidemics hit Africa's so-called "meningitis belt" a region of 25 sub-Saharan countries that stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia with a total population of about 500 million people. Groups at the highest risk of infection are infants, children and young adults.
