Angolan head of State João Lourenço left Luanda Monday for Spain to participate in the Global Conference on the Impact of Vaccination, taking place on June 13-15.
The Head of State was invited to attend the event, promoted by GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines), taking into account his “very prominent” participation in vaccination against Covid-19 in Africa.
In the event, the President of the Republic is expected to deliver his speech, according to a note from the Presidency’s Press Secretary.
The meeting will also gather, among other entities, the representatives of multilateral organisations, governments, civil society, companies and universities.
Participants in the meeting will assess the impact achieved by Gavi (an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) from January 2021 until now, a period in which the initiative faced the double challenge of supporting, with its partners, routine immunization and respond to the needs of Covid-19.
Gavi data indicate that, since 2021, the initiative has provided more than 1.9 billion doses of Covid-19 to 146 countries, through COVAX, and supported 32 immunisation campaigns in response to outbreaks that occurred in the year 2022.
The Vaccines Alliance has also revitalised its immunization programme against HPV (prevents against cancer), and should support the launch of the first vaccine against malaria in the world, later this year.
Since its creation in 2000, Gavi - Alliance of Vaccines has helped to immunize more than 981 million children and prevented more than 16.2 million deaths, which has helped to reduce, by half, child mortality in 73 countries of low income.
Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems and funding global stockpiles of Ebola, cholera and yellow fever vaccines.
After two decades, Gavi is focused on protecting, in particular, children who have not received any vaccine.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank, vaccine industries, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners
Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)