Tuesday this week, Bill Gates called for strengthened immunization programs against infectious diseases to save 4 million lives by 2015 and 10 million lives by 2020, calling it the best possible investment in global health. He was addressing the annual assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, attended by health ministers from the U.N. agency's 193 member states.
Gates, one of today's keynote speakers, encouraged delegates to use their leadership roles to promote the use of vaccines as tools for saving lives and boosting the potential of the countries' citizens. In calling for a Decade of Vaccines movement, he praised companies, global health organizations, and governments for their work in targeting new vaccines to poorer countries, such as the meningitis vaccine that has reduced the burden of the disease in some African nations. Gates acknowledged the difficult tasks that health minister face, especially in light of limited resources. “But you all have access to one key resource: your own leadership. And leadership can be decisive…The best immunization systems work because leaders hold themselves accountable for results. They diagnose problems, innovate to solve them, and spread the best ideas,” he said.
The Microsoft founder and philanthropist listed out the six new vaccines that could be available by the end of the decade and urged pharmaceutical manufacturers to make them affordable for poor countries. “If donors are generous, we will prevent 4 million deaths by 2015. By 2020, we can prevent 10 million deaths,” Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said.
He listed his top priorities as eradication of polio worldwide. He also met health ministers from countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan where the virus continues to paralyze unvaccinated children. “Vaccines are an extremely elegant technology. They can be inexpensive, they are easy to deliver and they are proven to protect children from disease. At Microsoft, we dreamed about technologies that were so powerful and yet so simple…Vaccines are one of the best investments that we can make in the future,” he said.
The Gates Foundation spends about $2 billion in grants each year for global health programs to tackle AIDS, malaria and other diseases, funding both research and delivery of medicines. After the United States, it is the second biggest contributor of voluntary donations to the WHO, giving nearly $220 million toward its two-year budget of $4.5 billion for 2010-2011, according to the agency.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan said that every year immunization programs prevent some 2-3 million deaths. “We know for a fact that vaccine is the most cost-effective intervention and the best buy in terms of return on investment in saving lives of children, women and men,” she told a joint news conference. “We can meet these goals with your leadership. And that will be critical to really making this the decade of vaccines,” Gates said.
Major research-based drug companies are committed to investing in developing innovative, safe and effective vaccines and supporting access to them through partnerships, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said in a statement. The WHO has a $300 million budget deficit, partly because of donor countries' austerity programs and also the dollar's strength against the Swiss franc, Chan said. “We will do our utmost to protect our core areas of work, first and foremost protecting activities at country-level,” she assured.
At a media briefing at the WHA today, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, said US delegates recently met with Gates and other global health officials who are working on polio issues, and she said in a statement that despite progress toward eradication, the situation remains fragile. “The United States will continue to support coordinated efforts to stop polio, and we know that it's making a difference. We recognize the need for full political ownership and oversight in those countries that are battling ongoing outbreaks. And we’ll advocate for support and resources at venues including the G-8 and G-20 meetings,” she said.
Delegates today also heard from Japanese and WHO experts on public health issues related to Japan's radiation emergency, the WHO said in its update.
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