Today's announcement will provide $20 million to the GAVI Alliance for the Strengthening Immunization Supply Chains initiative, through which immunization supply chain systems in developing countries will be improved. The work will include:
- improving vaccine handling and storage, including temperature control;
- increasing the availability and use of data on vaccine stocks;
- reducing wastage of GAVI-supported vaccines; and
- modernizing and better managing the procurement of equipment.
Vaccines need to be kept at a stable temperature to remain effective, which is a significant challenge in many developing countries that have a weak infrastructure. This funding will support the implementation of innovative approaches and technologies to help ensure effective vaccines reach more children in developing countries.
In June 2010, through the Muskoka Initiative, Canada led G-8 and non-G-8 leaders to commit $7.3 billion, mobilizing global action to reduce maternal and infant mortality and improve the health of mothers and children in the world's poorest countries.
As part of the Muskoka Initiative, Canada committed to providing $1.1 billion in new funding between 2010 and 2015 to help women and children in the world's poorest countries. Canada also announced it would maintain ongoing spending of $1.75 billion in maternal, newborn and child health programming during the same period, resulting in a total commitment of $2.85 billion.
The Muskoka Initiative succeeded in sparking international attention. In September 2010, during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Every Woman, Every Child initiative, a global movement mobilizing the resources of governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society in order to address the major health challenges facing women and children. The goal is to save 16 million lives by 2015.
In September 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, together with Jakaya Kikwete, President of the Republic of Tanzania, co-hosted a UN event entitled Women's and Children's Health: The Unfinished Agenda of the Millennium Development Goals. The event, organized in support of the Every Woman Every Child initiative, examined ways to accelerate progress on improving maternal, newborn and child health, and reducing the number of preventable deaths.
Canada is on track to meeting its Muskoka commitment, with 80 percent of the funding already disbursed. Under the Muskoka Initiative Partnership Program, Canada supported the efforts of 28 Canadian organizations to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality over three years in Haiti, Africa and Asia. Bilateral efforts are focused in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan and Tanzania, where maternal and child mortality rates are high. Multilateral and global partners include the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization.
Prime Minister Harper is hosting the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Summit on May 28–30, 2014. The high-level summit will build on Canada's leadership and chart the way forward for the next phase of coordinated global efforts on maternal, newborn and child health. Participants at the summit will include Canadian and international experts representing civil society, business, academia, developed and developing countries, international organizations and global foundations on maternal, newborn and child health.
