Gavi commends donor support of life-saving work through IFFIm

Gavi commends donor support of life-saving work through IFFIm

4 February 2015

Innovative finance tool will continue to provide funding for lifesaving vaccines

Geneva, 4 February 2015 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance today thanked the nine sovereign donors whose continued strong support for the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) is helping lifesaving vaccines reach children in developing countries.

At last week’s Gavi Pledging Conference, held in Berlin, Germany, new pledges totalling US$ 252 million were made to IFFIm. These pledges will be added to the US$ 1.2 billion of expected funding from IFFIm for the 2016 to 2020 period from existing commitments of its nine donors: Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

IFFIm plays an important role in supporting Gavi. Backed by long-term, legally-binding pledges, IFFIm raises funding through the issuance of Vaccine Bonds in the international capital markets. This provides long-term funding visibility and flexibility for Gavi to rapidly accelerate the immunisation of children in developing countries.

Gavi is deeply grateful to IFFIm’s donors, each of which recognises the long-term importance of IFFIm to the Alliance and confirms its commitment to honouring its pledge to IFFIm.

The US$ 252 million in new pledges made last week to IFFIm saw:

  • France increase its long-term pledge by US$ 180 million, adding to its US$ 1.72 billion, 20-year pledge.
  • The Netherlands increase its long-term pledge by US$ 72 million and by four years, adding to its US$ 114 million, 8-year pledge.

These new commitments represent a significant increase over the amount pledged to IFFIm at Gavi’s 2011 replenishment conference. In addition, Australia indicated that it may channel a portion of its new US$ 206 million contribution to Gavi through IFFIm.

The US$ 252 million pledged towards IFFIm is part of US$ 7.5 billion in new funding pledged by donors for Gavi’s replenishment. This new funding will be combined with US$ 2 billion in already assured resources – which includes the US$ 1.2 billion previously committed through IFFIm for the 2016-2020 period – to enable Gavi to meet the US$ 9.5 billion cost of funding vaccine programmes in developing countries over the five year period.

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