Before immunisation for Hib became routine in the 1970s, Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, was one of the biggest killers of children under five. It affects the lining of the brain, leading to deadly conditions including meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis. Today, thanks to vaccines, the disease has been nearly eliminated in many high-income countries and significantly reduced in low-income countries. High vaccine coverage is essential to keep that threat low, especially given rising antimicrobial resistance to the antibiotics used to treat Hib infection.¹

In 2005 Gavi allocated a US$ 37 million grant to increase uptake of the Hib vaccine in developing countries. Gavi also worked to vastly increase access to the pentavalent vaccine which protects against Hib and four other diseases: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and hepatitis B. IFFIm upfront funding for pentavalent helped strengthen Gavi’s bargaining power with vaccine manufacturers. By funding more than 90% of initial vaccines for Gavi’s pentavalent programme, IFFIm’s investment encouraged manufactures to increase production and decrease the price. Gavi is now able to procure pentavalent vaccines for US$ 0.93 per dose², a price reduction of 60% since 2010.

IFFIm has also disbursed to Gavi US$ 62.6 million for meningitis elimination and US$ 24.1 million for Meningitis A since 2006.³

Here’s how the Hib vaccine works and why you need it

HPV, human papillomavirus, is responsible for 95% of cervical cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer in women. Worldwide, HPV is the seventh most common type of cancer, responsible for approximately 3.3% of cancers.⁴ The vast majority of cervical cancer deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries. These areas need better access to HPV vaccines which have proven highly effective in reducing cervical cancer rates by 87%.⁵

Gavi recently relaunched its HPV vaccine programme, committing more than US$ 600 million towards purchasing vaccines, strengthening health systems and providing technical and learning support. Gavi aims to deliver HPV vaccine to more than 86 million girls by 2025 and avert more than 1.4 million deaths from cervical cancer. So far, HPV vaccines have been introduced into national immunisation schedules in 31 Gavi-supported countries, including recent campaigns in Kyrgyzstan, Burkina Faso, Lesotho and Sierra Leone. So far, 9.8 million girls have been reached with the HPV vaccine.⁶

IFFIm strongly supports Gavi’s cancer-fighting HPV vaccine campaigns by providing US$ 84 million in disbursements to Gavi since 2006.

Here's more on the HPV vaccine and why we need to reach every girl

Polio terrified the world for thousands of years and left millions of people paralysed. In the 1950s the first vaccine was developed, and in 1980s the world banded together to eradicate polio through immunisation. Today, cases are rare thanks to safe, effective vaccines. Worldwide, polio cases have fallen an astounding 99.9% since 1988 — from 300,000 a year to fewer than 300. We are close to eradicating polio for good.

Yet polio is still endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Moreover, there were new cases in the United States and Israel in 2022 showing the risk of polio making a comeback.⁷ Reaching a polio-free world through immunisation is a priority for Gavi and IFFIm.

Gavi has helped immunise more than 323 million children against polio, and all 73 Gavi-eligible countries have introduced the vaccine into their routine immunisation programmes.⁸ IFFIm has played a critical role in the fight to end polio by disbursing more than US$ 315 million to Gavi for its polio programmes since 2006.

IFFIm support for polio goes back to 2006 when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) faced a crisis and turned to IFFIm as the only way to finance stockpiling the polio vaccine for outbreaks. IFFIm invested US$ 191.3 million to help develop and license oral polio vaccine (OPV) products that could be field tested for safety and purchased in bulk. IFFIm’s support contributed to a striking 95% decline in polio cases in Nigeria and India, and an 85% decline in type 3 polio cases globally.⁹

As polio cases are on the rise in several countries due to a lag in routine immunisation during the pandemic, IFFIm has stepped up its support. In 2022 alone, IFFIm disbursed more than US$ 106 million for the highly effective inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).

Here’s a short history of polio and the dramatic effect of this safe, effective vaccine

Tetanus is relatively rare in Western countries because the tetanus vaccine is given as part of routine childhood immunisation. But it remains a problem in countries with low immunisation rates and unsanitary birth practices. Tetanus cannot be transmitted from one infected person to another, except when an unvaccinated person is pregnant, which puts the baby at risk.

Without a vaccine, up to one in five of people who encounter tetanus through cuts, burns or other wounds die. Routine immunisation saves the lives of thousands of newborns each year. The work of organisations like Gavi has widened tetanus vaccine coverage around the world, bringing the annual death toll down from more than 300,000 in 1990 to around 15,000 in 2018.¹⁰

IFFIm is proud to have disbursed US$ 61.4 million for Gavi's maternal and neonatal tetanus programme.¹¹ In addition, IFFIm was an early supporter of the five-in-one pentavalent vaccine which protects against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, Hib and hepatitis B. Gavi has reached more than 661 million children with pentavalent.¹² IFFIm financed more than 90% of Gavi’s promised payment to UNICEF to secure initial doses of the vaccine

Watch how the tetanus vaccine works and find out why it’s so important