Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI): Is it a New Model for Effective Public Private Cooperation in International Public Health?

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was established in 1999 to finance and speed the delivery of new and improved vaccines for children in the developing world. Through collaborative leadership and international funding, GAVI aims to improve health in developing countries, increase international public health equity, and serve as a model for others in the global health community. However, this paper questions the extent to which GAVI can actually achieve its goals. GAVI has not received unanimous support because it competes for the limited supply of skilled professionals in developing countries and subordinates country-specific health need to its own purposes. Instead of endorsing future top-down approaches, this paper argues that global health initiatives should be restructured to emphasize national priorities, regional leadership, and broader systems objectives, of which immunization, though indispensable, is only a part. [author’s description]