Won’t somebody please think of the children?

A DOCTOR who has been recognised by TIME magazine as one the “100 Most Influential People in the World” has congratulated Australia’s aid program for “batting well above it’s average” when it comes to funding life-saving immunisations for millions of children in the world’s poorest countries.

Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations) delivered a magnetic keynote speech at last week’s forum: Australia’s Global Role in Child Survival, hosted by RESULTS and the Sydney University School of Public Health.

The forum was held to build community, civil-society, academic and government support for Australian aid efforts to ensure the health and survival of the world’s children. Not always an easy task in this global age of austerity, which often leaves the expansion of Australia’s aid budget vulnerable to criticism.

But GAVI provides a strong counter-argument to this position, representing some of the best value for money in the aid world and the type of support on which the Australian government should focus.

Each year globally, about 20 million babies go unimmunised against the common diseases that kill young children (like pneumonia and rotavirus – that causes diarrhea), leading to nearly 2 million preventable deaths every year. GAVI has prevented more than 5.5 million child deaths since 2000 by working with governments to deliver more than 300 million life-saving immunisations in the poorest countries.

Mr. Peter Baxter, Director-General of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) was also present to respond on behalf of the Australian Government. Mr. Baxter outlined the key opportunities for Australian aid to impact on the health and wellbeing of children around the globe.

Representatives from The University of Sydney, RESULTS and Save the Children Australia discussed these issues on a panel, providing the perspective of Australian-based academics, advocates and implementers – all whom praised the strong work of GAVI and the Governments commitment to growing Australia’s aid budget to 0.5% of GNI by 2015.

The plenary session was followed by three workshops, to highlight key interventions such as immunisation support, nutrition and health-systems strengthening. I attended the session on vaccines and immunisations and learnt about the incredible potential to reduce child deaths by investing in new and underused vaccines in the developing world. 

There was a strong sense amongst all present that Australian funding for saving the lives of children in poor countries is a very good investment. Persistent focus is now needed to give all children around the world the same shot at life that we enjoy in our lucky country. 

From left to right: Joel Negin, Peter Baxter (AusAID), Maree Nutt (RESULTS), Seth Berkley (GAVI),
Robert Cummung, Nicole Cardinal