Global Citizens have been campaigning for this moment for months and, at the World Economic Forum in Davos this month, it finally happened.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany would continue to support the work of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, with 600 million euros (just over $665 million) over the next five years, from 2021 to 2025.
Shortly before Merkel's trip to Davos, Global Citizen, together with other non-governmental organizations in Germany, piled on the pressure with our campaign actions — including a co-created “Good News Now” newspaper hailing the work of Gavi and outlining why Germany should support the alliance.
🗞Heute haben wir der Kanzlerin gemeinsam mit anderen NGOs die guten Nachrichten von morgen überbracht 🙌 Für diese kann sie nämlich heute schon sorgen – indem sie beim #WEF2020 in Davos einen starken deutschen Beitrag für @gavi zusagt. #GoodNews2025pic.twitter.com/9wxXESo4ui
— Global Citizen (@GlblCtznDe) January 16, 2020
And the campaigning work of Global Citizens, alongside the efforts of many of NGOs and activists, has now achieved at least a partial success — and one that we now hope to build on.
Merkel’s pledge in support of Gavi comes at exactly the right time. The official replenishment for Gavi — meaning when global stakeholders come together to drive more funding for the alliance’s work over the next five years — is going to be held in the UK in June.
So making the pledge now is a really strong signal of support from the German government for Gavi — and will hopefully encourage other donor and partner countries to follow suit and invest in vaccines worldwide.
Vaccinations have long been one of the most successful and cost-effective measures to protect people around the world from preventable diseases.
But 1.5 million children under five still die every year from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccination.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership committed to protecting the lives of children in developing countries and emerging economies through vaccination.
Over the past 20 years, Gavi has vaccinated more than 760 million children, preventing more than 13 million deaths. Vitally, it works particularly in areas that are difficult to access, including Yemen, Syria, and North Korea.
While we’re really celebrating the German government’s early commitment, we’ve not yet reached our goal.
For Gavi to vaccinate its target 300 million children by 2025, while strengthening the necessary health systems in its 73 partner countries, at least $7.4 billion must be mobilized. We’re calling for Germany to commit 700 million euros of that target.
Germany has been supporting Gavi since 2006 and is currently the fourth largest donor country in the alliance.
In 2015, the German government hosted Gavi's second replenishment conference in Berlin — to raise funds for the period between 2016 and 2020. That conference actually exceeded its fundraising goal, including another pledge from Merkel also of 600 million euros.
Since April 2019, Global Citizens have been taking action to call on Germany to continue its support for Gavi. More than 90,000 of you have supported the campaign actions, signing petitions and sending tweets to help build the pressure and make your demands clear.
With 2020 being such an important year for Gavi and the worldwide financing of vaccinations, we’re certainly not going to be stepping back from our efforts any time soon. You can join us by taking action here in support of Global Goal 3 for health, and to urge world leaders to invest in vaccines.
As part of our largest campaign ever, Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream, we’ll be working throughout 2020 to call on governments, businesses, and private donors to make further financial commitments to organizations like Gavi.
In order to end extreme poverty and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in the world’s 59 poorest countries by 2030, investments worth an additional $350 billion annually are needed.
Our campaign will culminate in a unique global media event, with festivals being held around the world on Sept. 26 — including in New York and Lagos, with additional events in Europe, Seoul, Dubai, and Latin America, with further details to be announced!