Okonjo-Iweala appointed Chair-elect of Gavi board, a multilateral Public- Private Partnership on vaccines

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has accepted to serve as

Chair of the 28-member Board of the Global

Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, GAVI, an

international public-private partnershipcommitted

to saving the lives of children and and protecting

people's health by improving access to immunization

in developing countries.

Official announcement by Gavi Internationally

renowned development economist and former

Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has

been appointed Chair-elect of the Board of Gavi,

the Vaccine Alliance. She will take up the position

of Chair from January 2016.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala will bring more than 33 years of

development and financial expertise to the Gavi

Board at a critical period for immunisation in

developing countries. Despite record coverage

rates, every year around 19 million children are

still missing out on a full course of the most basic

vaccines. Additionally, more than 20 countries with

growing economies are preparing to transition from

Gavi support by 2020, meaning they will take on

the full cost of their immunisation programmes.

Increased access to immunisation has been a major

factor in the 53% fall in child mortality between

1990 and 2015. Gavi currently supports more than

310 immunisation programmes in 73 of the world’s

poorest countries and has so far committed US$

1.2 billion towards helping them to strengthen

their health systems. Since 2000, Gavi has

supported the immunisation of more than half a

billion additional children, leading to seven million

future deaths being averted.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chair-elect of the Board

of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Over the next five years, Gavi aims to support

countries to immunise an additional 300 million

children, leading to a further five to six million

lives being saved. Vaccine Alliance support will also

see a 10-fold increase in the proportion of children

in Gavi-supported countries receiving all 11

vaccines recommended by WHO – rising from 5%

today to 50% by 2020.

"I am excited to be joining Gavi during this

crucial time," said Dr Okonjo-Iweala. "Gavi has a

well-earned reputation as one of the leading

players in global health, providing services that

underpin human and economic development. We

must build on this solid foundation to create

sustainable programmes that will drive down

vaccine-preventable diseases, reach every child and

provide them with a sound basis for their

futures."

Dr Okonjo-Iweala has twice served as Finance

Minister in Nigeria, most recently between 2011

and 2015 with the expanded portfolio of the

Coordinating Minister for the Economy. She has

also held several key positions at the World Bank,

most recently as Managing Director.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala currently serves on the board of

the Rockefeller Foundation and ONE, among

others. She is chair of African Risk Capacity, and

the recipient of numerous honors including

honorary doctorate degrees from Yale, University

of Pennsylvania and Brown. She was named by

Fortune magazine as one of the 50 greatest world

leaders 2015, and by Forbes for five consecutive

years as one of the 100 most powerful women in

the world. In 2014, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was

recognised by Time magazine as one of the 100

most influential people in the world.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala graduated with an A.B. magna

cum laude in Economics from Harvard University,

and holds a PhD in Regional Economics and

Development from the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala was chosen through a Board-

managed competitive international search process.

In taking up the position of Board Chair, Dr

Okonjo-Iweala will succeed Dagfinn Høybråten, a

former Norwegian Minister of Health and current

Secretary General of the Nordic Council of

Ministers.

Mr Høybråten, who joined the Board in 2006 as an

independent member and was appointed Chair in

2010, has guided Gavi through an unprecedented

acceleration of new vaccine introductions in

developing countries. Today, more children than

ever are being protected against major killers like

pneumonia and severe diarrhoea.

The speed of vaccine introductions during Mr

Høybråten’s tenure has put Gavi firmly on course

to reach its five year target of supporting

developing countries to immunise nearly a quarter

of a billion additional children between 2011 and

2015.

Mr Høybråten chaired Gavi through successful

pledging events in London and Berlin, in 2011 and

2015 respectively, which together secured pledges

for childhood immunisation in developing countries

totalling almost $12 billion.

As Chair, he also oversaw deliberations that led to

key Board decisions on funding for new vaccines

including the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into the routine

immunisation systems of Gavi-supported countries.

"I am proud to have played my part in the

unprecedented increase in the number of children

in developing countries who have access to

vaccines," said Mr Høybråten. "Gavi’s success in

improving health and reducing illness and death lies

in our ability to work collaboratively on complex

immunisation challenges. I wish Dr Okonjo-Iweala

every success and I look forward to the next

exciting chapter in the Gavi story."