Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has accepted to serve as Chair of the 28-member
Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, GAVI, an
international public-private partnershipcommitted to saving the lives of
children and and protecting people's health by improving access to
immunization in developing countries.
Official announcement by Gavi Internationally renowned development economist and former Nigerian
Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed Chair-elect of
the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. She will take up the position
of Chair from January 2016.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala will bring more than
33 years of development and financial expertise to the Gavi Board at a
critical period for immunisation in developing countries. Despite record
coverage rates, every year around 19 million children are still missing
out on a full course of the most basic vaccines. Additionally, more
than 20 countries with growing economies are preparing to transition
from Gavi support by 2020, meaning they will take on the full cost of
their immunisation programmes.
Increased access to immunisation
has been a major factor in the 53% fall in child mortality between 1990
and 2015. Gavi currently supports more than 310 immunisation programmes
in 73 of the world’s poorest countries and has so far committed US$ 1.2
billion towards helping them to strengthen their health systems. Since
2000, Gavi has supported the immunisation of more than half a billion
additional children, leading to seven million future deaths being
averted.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chair-elect of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Over
the next five years, Gavi aims to support countries to immunise an
additional 300 million children, leading to a further five to six
million lives being saved. Vaccine Alliance support will also see a
10-fold increase in the proportion of children in Gavi-supported
countries receiving all 11 vaccines recommended by WHO – rising from 5%
today to 50% by 2020.
"I am excited to be joining Gavi during
this crucial time," said Dr Okonjo-Iweala. "Gavi has a well-earned
reputation as one of the leading players in global health, providing
services that underpin human and economic development. We must build on
this solid foundation to create sustainable programmes that will drive
down vaccine-preventable diseases, reach every child and provide them
with a sound basis for their futures."
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has
twice served as Finance Minister in Nigeria, most recently between 2011
and 2015 with the expanded portfolio of the Coordinating Minister for
the Economy. She has also held several key positions at the World Bank,
most recently as Managing Director.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala currently
serves on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation and ONE, among others.
She is chair of African Risk Capacity, and the recipient of numerous
honors including honorary doctorate degrees from Yale, University of
Pennsylvania and Brown. She was named by Fortune magazine as one of the
50 greatest world leaders 2015, and by Forbes for five consecutive years
as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. In 2014, Dr
Okonjo-Iweala was recognised by Time magazine as one of the 100 most
influential people in the world.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala graduated with
an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University, and holds a
PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala was chosen through a Board-managed competitive international search process.
In
taking up the position of Board Chair, Dr Okonjo-Iweala will succeed
Dagfinn Høybråten, a former Norwegian Minister of Health and current
Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Mr
Høybråten, who joined the Board in 2006 as an independent member and was
appointed Chair in 2010, has guided Gavi through an unprecedented
acceleration of new vaccine introductions in developing countries.
Today, more children than ever are being protected against major killers
like pneumonia and severe diarrhoea.
The speed of vaccine
introductions during Mr Høybråten’s tenure has put Gavi firmly on course
to reach its five year target of supporting developing countries to
immunise nearly a quarter of a billion additional children between 2011
and 2015.
Mr Høybråten chaired Gavi through successful pledging
events in London and Berlin, in 2011 and 2015 respectively, which
together secured pledges for childhood immunisation in developing
countries totalling almost $12 billion.
As Chair, he also oversaw
deliberations that led to key Board decisions on funding for new
vaccines including the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and
inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into the routine immunisation systems of
Gavi-supported countries.
"I am proud to have played my part in
the unprecedented increase in the number of children in developing
countries who have access to vaccines," said Mr Høybråten. "Gavi’s
success in improving health and reducing illness and death lies in our
ability to work collaboratively on complex immunisation challenges. I
wish Dr Okonjo-Iweala every success and I look forward to the next
exciting chapter in the Gavi story."
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