Latest news with #Nishtar
TimesLIVE
26-06-2025
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Global vaccine group Gavi has $9bn — short of its target
Global vaccine group Gavi has more than $9bn (R158.80bn) for its work over the next five years helping to immunise the world's poorest children, including money raised at a Brussels fundraising summit, it said on Wednesday. The total, which Gavi announced at the end of the event, was less than targeted. It included new funding from governments and philanthropic donors, as well as money left after Covid-19 and other work. Gavi said more pledges were likely in the coming weeks. Overall, the group was aiming to have $11.9bn (R209.97bn) for its work from 2026 to 2030 and wanted to raise at least $9bn at the summit without counting leftover money. In an interview with Reuters, Gavi chief executive Sania Nishtar said the bulk of the total was new pledges but did not elaborate. "In a very, very dire moment for global health ... This is far better than I had hoped it would be," said Nishtar. The total did not include a pledge from the US. US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said the US would no longer fund Gavi and accused it of ignoring vaccine safety, without citing any evidence.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Vaccine group Gavi seeks to broaden donor base as aid budgets shrink
By Ahmed Eljechtimi RABAT (Reuters) -Global vaccine group Gavi is seeking new donors for its work funding childhood immunisation in the world's poorest countries, its chief executive told Reuters, as many traditional funders cut international aid budgets. Gavi is aiming to raise $9 billion at a summit in Brussels later this month for its work from 2026-2030, but countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and France have all signalled that they plan to slash global aid funding in the coming years, and their pledges remain uncertain. "We want to broaden our donor base," Gavi's Sania Nishtar told Reuters in Rabat, where she met officials to encourage Morocco to join as a new donor. She said that India and Indonesia, which had previously been supported by Gavi, were now contributing as donors to the organization, which works with low and middle-income countries to buy vaccines for diseases from measles to cholera. Other countries like Portugal have also increased their funding commitment, she said. During her Morocco visit, Nishtar toured a vaccine manufacturing facility near Casablanca under development by Marbio, a biopharmaceutical venture backed by Morocco. She said the plant had "a good chance" of benefiting from Gavi's $1.2 billion African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, a scheme aimed at boosting vaccine production on the continent. Gavi has already sought out more private sector donors, initiated cost-saving initiatives, and discussed closer collaboration with other global health groups as part of plans to try to tackle potential shortfalls in funding. Nishtar said the organization was making contingency plans, but she hoped that donors at the June 25 summit would give enough that they would not be needed. A U.S. government document showed in March that the U.S., which has previously given around $300 million to Gavi annually, did not plan any future funding. Nishtar said that Gavi has not yet received this year's funding, which has already been approved by Congress. Gavi is currently focused on combating a global measles outbreak and is responding to cholera outbreaks in Sudan, South Sudan, and Angola, where it has made special arrangements to supply vaccines from its stockpiles, Nishtar said. It is also supporting Sierra Leone, where the spread of mpox has accelerated.
Straits Times
11-06-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
Vaccine group Gavi seeks to broaden donor base as aid budgets shrink
RABAT - Global vaccine group Gavi is seeking new donors for its work funding childhood immunisation in the world's poorest countries, its chief executive told Reuters, as many traditional funders cut international aid budgets. Gavi is aiming to raise $9 billion at a summit in Brussels later this month for its work from 2026-2030, but countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and France have all signalled that they plan to slash global aid funding in the coming years, and their pledges remain uncertain. "We want to broaden our donor base," Gavi's Sania Nishtar told Reuters in Rabat, where she met officials to encourage Morocco to join as a new donor. She said that India and Indonesia, which had previously been supported by Gavi, were now contributing as donors to the organization, which works with low and middle-income countries to buy vaccines for diseases from measles to cholera. Other countries like Portugal have also increased their funding commitment, she said. During her Morocco visit, Nishtar toured a vaccine manufacturing facility near Casablanca under development by Marbio, a biopharmaceutical venture backed by Morocco. She said the plant had "a good chance" of benefiting from Gavi's $1.2 billion African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, a scheme aimed at boosting vaccine production on the continent. Gavi has already sought out more private sector donors, initiated cost-saving initiatives, and discussed closer collaboration with other global health groups as part of plans to try to tackle potential shortfalls in funding. Nishtar said the organization was making contingency plans, but she hoped that donors at the June 25 summit would give enough that they would not be needed. A U.S. government document showed in March that the U.S., which has previously given around $300 million to Gavi annually, did not plan any future funding. Nishtar said that Gavi has not yet received this year's funding, which has already been approved by Congress. Gavi is currently focused on combating a global measles outbreak and is responding to cholera outbreaks in Sudan, South Sudan, and Angola, where it has made special arrangements to supply vaccines from its stockpiles, Nishtar said. It is also supporting Sierra Leone, where the spread of mpox has accelerated. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
Global vaccine and health bodies could team up more to tackle US-led funding crisis
Global vaccine and health bodies could team up more to tackle US-led funding crisis LONDON - Two global health groups that fund billions of dollars worth of critical medical aid - from childhood vaccines to malaria treatments - are in talks about merging some functions to help combat a financing crunch, their chief executives told Reuters. The groups – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the vaccine group Gavi – said they had been discussing working more efficiently together for several years, but a massive pull-back on government-funded aid budgets, led by the Trump administration, has given the talks more urgency. 'I think the crisis – and it is a crisis, what we're facing in global health right now – is an impetus to think hard about the shape and structure of the global health ecosystem,' Peter Sands, chief executive of the Global Fund, told Reuters. Gavi and the Global Fund set up a working group in autumn last year to work more closely together and explore merging some functions, joined by the World Bank's Global Financing Facility for women and girls. The group's work, which is ongoing, has not been previously reported. 'The idea is not to bring these massive structures together, the idea is to work better at the country level… to make life for countries easier,' said Sania Nishtar, Gavi chief executive. Sands and Nishtar spoke to Reuters during the World Health Organization's annual meeting in Geneva, at which budget cuts and efficiencies were high on the agenda. Nishtar gave an example of Gavi in Nigeria helping local health officials give children measles and rubella vaccines, while Global Fund supported them giving bed nets to their parents to help prevent malaria. Previously, the two groups might have had separate desks, supply chains, data, staff, logistics, and guidelines, and even warehouses. That should be done better, she said. Working together on rolling out the malaria vaccine, led by Gavi, alongside other malaria tools like preventive drugs, which the Global Fund manages, had also prompted greater cooperation. The Global Fund is trying to raise $18 billion for its work from 2027-2029, and Gavi is trying to raise $9 billion for 2026-2030. Donors told Reuters that they are pushing for efficiencies as they consider how much to pledge to the groups, which have saved millions of lives since beginning work in the early 2000s. A Gavi spokesperson said it had started a voluntary departure scheme among its 650 staff and consultants and was working to streamline operations. The Global Fund has around 1,200 staff and declined to comment on potential cuts. Advocates including Bill Gates, a major global health funder through his foundation, said he had been talking to governments about the essential role the two organisations play. 'Being an advocate and making sure the money is well-spent, that is part of my role,' he told Reuters earlier this month. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Arab News
31-03-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Slashed funding threatens millions of children, says charity chief
GENEVA: A halt to funding for Gavi, an organization that vaccinates children in the world's poorest countries, will leave a dangerous gap threatening the lives of millions, its chief warned on Monday. 'The first impact would be for the world's most vulnerable children,' Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar said. She spoke via video link from Washington, during a visit to convince US authorities that their 25-year collaboration with the Geneva-based organization must continue. The New York Times broke the news last week that the US aims to cut all funding to Gavi. That step featured in a 281-page spreadsheet related to USAID cuts sent to the US Congress. The decision would impact about 14 percent of Gavi's core budget — and came just days after Congress had approved $300 million in funding for the organization. Gavi says it helps vaccinate more than half the world's children against infectious diseases, including COVID-19, Ebola, malaria, rabies, polio, cholera, tuberculosis, typhoid, and yellow fever. 'I was very, very surprised,' Nishtar said, adding that her organization still had received no official termination notice from the US government. If the cuts go ahead, Nishtar warned, it would have devastating effects. 'Frankly, this is too big a hole to be filled,' Nishtar warned, even as Gavi scrambled to find donors to offset the missing US funding. 'Something will have to be cut.' Gavi says it helps vaccinate more than half the world's children against infectious diseases, including COVID-19, Ebola, malaria, rabies, polio, cholera, tuberculosis, typhoid, and yellow fever. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has provided vaccines to more than 1.1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, 'preventing more than 18.8 million future deaths,' it says. Before the US decision, the organization aimed to vaccinate 500 million more children between 2026 and 2030. The US contribution is directly responsible for funding 75 million of those vaccinations, Nishtar said. Without them, 'around 1.3 million children will die from vaccine-preventable diseases.' Beyond Gavi's core immunization programs, the funding cut would jeopardize the stockpiling and roll-out of vaccines against outbreaks and health emergencies, including Ebola, cholera, and mpox. 'The world's ability to protect itself against outbreaks and health emergencies will be compromised,' Nishtar said. During her Washington visit, the Gavi chief said she aimed to show how effective funding has been for her organization. For every $1 spent on vaccinations in developing countries where Gavi operates, $21 will be saved this decade in 'health care costs, lost wages and lost productivity from illness and death,' the vaccine group estimates. Unlike other organizations facing cuts, Gavi has not received an outsized contribution from Washington toward its budget, Nishtar noted, insisting that the US contribution was proportionate to its share of the global economy. She said that other donors were paying their 'fair share,' while recipient countries also pitched in and provided a path to transition away from receiving aid. Some former recipients, like Indonesia, had even become donors to the program, she pointed out, hoping that such arguments would help sway Washington to stay the course. Without the US backing, 'we will have to make difficult trade-offs,' Nishtar warned. That 'will leave us all more exposed.'
