New four-year commitment will help UNICEF procure COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines; mitigate the pandemic’s disruption of routine immunization; and support the procurement of other essential health supplies SEATTLE, STOCKHOLM, COPENHAGEN, 12 November 2021 -/African Media Agency/- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency , and UNICEF today announced a $150...
SEATTLE, STOCKHOLM, COPENHAGEN, 12 November 2021 -/African Media Agency/- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency , and UNICEF today announced a $150 million financial guarantee to help UNICEF procure vaccines and other health-related supplies for low- and middle-income countries .
“The world cannot have a system in which supplies that are critical to improving the health of all people are auctioned to the highest bidder, forcing poorer countries to go without,” said Chris Elias, president of the Global Development Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Access to diagnostics, treatments, vaccines and other essential health supplies is critical to ensuring that countries can protect their people against COVID-19 and other health threats.
Since 2017, UNICEF has accelerated the procurement and delivery of $900 million worth of supplies, including 840 million doses of vaccines to more than 100 countries, by leveraging financial guarantees. UNICEF substantially expanded its financing capacity in 2020 to support the procurement of COVID-19 products and other essential supplies.