Alwaleed Philanthropies is investing a further $5 million in its partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The foundation will make the investment through Gavi’s INFUSE initiative (Innovation for Uptake, Scale and Equity in Immunization). The grant is part of a range of efforts by Alwaleed Philanthropies to improve routine immunization and builds on the original $1 million investment made in 2015 to support vaccines in Timor Leste, Kiribati, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Guyana for the 2016-2020 program. Princess Lamia bint Majid Al-Saud, general-secretary of Alwaleed Philanthropies, announced the partnership at the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Alwaleed Philanthropies recognize the pressing need to support immunization, as the majority of the world’s population is increasingly living in urban areas, and more than 19.4 million children are still under-immunized.
The GAVI Alliance and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to help save children’s lives by accelerating the introduction of life-saving vaccines in IDB member countries. The MoU was signed by Dr Seth Berkley, GAVI Alliance CEO, and Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, Islamic Development Bank Group Chairman. By 2020, GAVI plans to vaccinate more than 400 million children in at least 29 member countries. An estimated US$ 7 billion will be required to reach this target. IDB will work closely with GAVI to help secure sufficient funds for immunisation.