Tale på GAVI-møte i London

President Johnson Sirleaf,

Prime Minister Cameron,

Our friend Bill Gates,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Eleven years ago in New York, I had the privilege of signing the Millennium Declaration together with 189 other Heads of State and Government.

I remember travelling home from the Millennium Summit wondering if the Declaration would be forgotten by the time we were all back in our own countries.

Happily my fears were unfounded.

We are making progress in reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

In particular in reaching the health development goals.

As my colleagues have already mentioned, child mortality is down by one third, from 12 million in 1990 to 8 million in 2009.

But every dead child is one too many.

A child’s ability to survive and thrive is inextricably linked to the survival of her mother.

The fact that three hundred and fifty thousand women still die during pregnancy and childbirth remains the most brutal expression of neglect of women.

It is in our power to save these millions of women and children.

By providing basic health services.

By pulling together.

***

Excellencies,

The Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health brings our collective efforts to a new level.

The public and private sectors, the UN and NGOs, academia and trade unions, the G8 and the African Union are all contributing.

Most importantly one third of government commitments to that effort have come from the poorest countries themselves.

This paves the way for success during the next decade.

                        ***

Ladies and gentlemen,

No aid organisation has shown better results than the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.

A UK analysis recently rated GAVI the best buy in development.

I have witnessed the magic of vaccination on many of my travels.

A few drops in the mouth and the little girl or boy is protected for life.

And it is so simple that even a Prime Minister can do it!

                        ***

There are three things I especially like about GAVI:

First, the Alliance works.

Together with its partners, GAVI has protected almost 300 million children since its inception and saved more than five million lives.

Second, the Alliance has Bill and Melinda Gates.

Their commitment to GAVI is remarkable.

They have brought private sector ingenuity and business acumen to the Alliance.

The very essence of GAVI is public-private partnership.

The best of both worlds joining forces to bring the newest vaccines to the poorest children as fast as possible.

Third, the Alliance is innovative.

GAVI has been pioneering results-based financing as a tool.

The Alliance pays per child vaccinated.

This is why Norway has been a partner of the Alliance since the very beginning in 2000.    

***

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today we are gathered here to launch a new initiative.

To mobilise the world community in an effort to save an additional four million children’s lives by 2015.

This is our challenge.

And this is our responsibility.

I am encouraged to see that vaccination is now on the agenda of leaders all over the world.

I welcome the commitment by the G8 countries to global action.

And I commend Prime Minister Cameron for his strong commitment to this issue and for hosting this conference.

                        ***

Norway will do its share.

So far we have spent 90 million US dollars annually on vaccines through GAVI.

Like Prime Minister Cameron, Bill and Melinda Gates and others, we will do more.

Today I am pleased to announce that we will double our annual contribution to 180 million US dollars by 2015, increasing our total contribution to more that 1,5 billion US dollars.

***

Ladies and gentlemen,

Through our great collective effort since 2000 we have achieved extraordinary progress.

But much remains to be done.

I am therefore very happy to see that support for vaccination in general and GAVI in particular is growing.

I look forward to working with all of you to make sure that every child gets the live-saving vaccines it needs.

Because no cause is more worthy,

no mission more important

than saving the lives of the millions of children dying from easily preventable causes.

Thank you.

Pressemelding: Økt støtte til vaksinasjon av fattige barn