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GAVI: Vaccinating 1 Billion People (and counting)
In the 1990’s the world realised it had a problem
People in poor countries were not getting vaccinated. And so millions, particularly children, were dying from diseases many people in richer countries have never heard of.
“In my culture, it once wasn’t uncommon to say, Until your child reached age 5 and survived measles, you didn’t really have a child. It’s a painful idea to consider. But we used to lose so many young ones—it was a fact of life, to which we all bore witness.”
And so in 2000, The Gavi Alliance was created.
It’s a group of people from non-profits, for-profits and government agencies who came together for one reason: To help vaccinate people in the poorest countries in the world.
Gavi has been wonderfully successful.
Between 2000 - 2022:
They vaccinated 1 billion children
Saved an estimated 17.3 million people from dying.
There has been $220 Billion in economic benefits
Check out this graph.
It shows a 70% reduction in vaccine-preventable deaths for children in countries where Gavi works.
The story of Gavi is a story of teamwork.
Working together is hard. There are egos and different incentives, it’s complicated. Yet Gavi shows it’s possible. In part because they all agree on the mission: vaccinating people in the poorest parts of the world. Because all lives are equal and no one should die because of where they were born.
Our primary mission is life critical. Our goal is very clear: to address the gross inequities in child health still existing in the world today. Life or death for a young child too often depends on whether he is born in a country where vaccines are available or not…
Lesson: We need great teams to do great work
Cheers,
Jared
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