The World Health Organisation (WHO) has welcomed the appointment of former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as the chairperson of the 28-member Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).
In a statement, the organisation expressed confidence that the former minister would bring more than 33 years of development and financial expertise to the Gavi Board at a critical period for immunisation in developing countries.
GAVI is an international public-private partnership committed to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to immunisation in developing countries, including Nigeria.
The WHO had warned earlier this year that vaccines were not being delivered equitably or reliably and that only one out of the six key vaccination targets for 2015 was currently on track – the introduction of under-utilised vaccines, a target to which Gavi has contributed significantly.
The appointment, which takes effect from January 2006, will see Okonjo-Iweala succeed Dagfinn Høybråten, a former Norwegian Minister of Health and current Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
She will also work closely with WHO Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, Dr. Flavia Bustreo, who is also the Vice Chair of Gavi.
Since 2000, Gavi has supported the immunisation of more than half a billion additional children, leading to 7 million future deaths being averted.
WHO is one of the founding members of Gavi, a public-private partnership formed in 2000, to address global inequities in access to and coverage of available lifesaving vaccines.
Over the next five years, WHO will continue to lead collective efforts to achieve and sustain universal vaccination coverage as outlined in the Decade of Vaccines Global Vaccine Action Plan.
WHO plays a critical role providing global recommendations on immunisation, ensuring that vaccines are safe and of assured quality, and providing support to countries to implement immunisation programmes.
By James Emejo
This Day
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