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Press Release
Cambodia First Country in Southeast Asia to Receive
Vaccines from Vaccine Fund
SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 17 Building upon
its unprecedented effort to support immunization programs in developing
countries, the Vaccine Fund will launch a multi-country five-year
initiative in Cambodia on 19 August, to increase access to immunization
for children throughout Southeast Asia. Leaders of the global vaccination
effort will be joined by Cambodian government officials at the Poh
Mean Chey Health Center in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where they will
witness the historic beginning of a campaign that is expected to
affect the lives of millions of children throughout the region.
In collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines
and Immunization (GAVI) and the Cambodian Ministry of Health, the
Vaccine Fund will hand over its first grant of vaccines in Southeast
Asia. The Funds initial investment in Cambodia of $296,000 will
be used to purchase a combination vaccine against hepatitis B, diphtheria,
tetanus, and pertussis (DTP-hepB).
"With this trip, the Vaccine Fund begins fulfilling
the promise of longer, healthier lives for impoverished children
throughout Southeast Asia," said Jacques-Francois Martin, President
of the Vaccine Fund. Martin will be joined in Siem Reap by GAVI
Chairwoman and UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, and United
States Congressman Jim Kolbe. After presenting the first shipment
of the new combination DTP-hepB vaccine to Siem Reap Governor Chap
Nhalyvoud and Cambodian Minister of Health Hong Sun Huot, the delegation
will witness the beginning of the Southeast Asia campaign as children
receive the first inoculation.
Cambodia is the second poorest country in Southeast
Asia, with an annual GDP per capita of only US$260. According to
UNICEF, 8.6% of Cambodian children die before reaching their first
birthday, and roughly 44,000 children under the age of 5 die each
year. According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, only
64 percent of Cambodia's children have been immunized against diphtheria,
tetanus, and pertussis leaving fully a third without the
benefit of basic vaccines which parents of children in industrialized
nations take for granted.
In addition to Cambodia, the Vaccine Fund has announced
more than $3.5 million in funding for vaccinations in neighboring
Laos and Viet Nam. Laos has been approved to receive an initial
award of $1.143 million for DTP-hepB vaccine. Only 56% of Laos
children currently receive basic DTP vaccines. The Fund's $2.375
million investment in Viet Nam will also go toward increasing hepB
vaccination coverage, which most Vietnamese children do not currently
receive.
"The children of Cambodia represent only a fraction
of those throughout Southeast Asia who lack routine vaccinations,"
said Martin. "Simply because a child is born into poverty does
not mean they have any less of a right to the medicines that can
help guarantee a longer, more productive life than a child born
elsewhere. Through this effort we can not only begin to reduce this
disparity, but allow these children, as healthy adults, to contribute
to their nations economic growth."
The Vaccine Fund was launched last year with a grant
of $750 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since
then, 5 countries Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, the United
Kingdom, and the United States have contributed an additional
$250 million to the Fund's effort to address the immunization needs
of the world's poorest countries. The Vaccine Fund has already committed
more than $600 million to government immunization programs in 36
developing countries, providing financing needed to upgrade immunization
services and purchase new and under-used vaccines.
GAVI is an unprecedented public-private partnership
that includes UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World
Bank, the pharmaceutical industry, governments of both industrialized
and developing countries, and philanthropic organizations (including
the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations). After receiving applications
from governments, GAVIs Board makes recommendations to the Vaccine
Fund to allocate resources where they can have the greatest impact
on the health and well-being of the developing world's children.
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