Activities

IFFIm funding is used to reduce the number of vaccine-preventable deaths among children under five in about 70 of the world’s poorest countries. There are two key areas where these resources can have a substantial and immediate impact: supporting new and underused vaccines and strengthening immunisation services . The two funding streams are inextricably linked as substantial funding to support health systems is needed to ensure that the eligible countries are able to expand access to the traditional vaccines and manage and deliver the new vaccines.

A major constraint plaguing immunisation efforts in recent years has been the lack of stable, predictable and coordinated cash flows for an extended period. IFFIm helps to address this concern. Its front-loading development assistance invests the majority of money “up front”. Therefore IFFIm’s support allows both developing countries and vaccine manufacturers to plan for longer periods of time knowing the necessary resources will be available. This predictability increases efficiency, planning and results.

Moreover, more funding for immunisation now rather than later will secure better pricing, accelerate increased availability of new vaccines, support the substantial system improvements required to absorb new vaccines such as those providing protection against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus, and scale up coverage to 90% in every country, in accordance with the goals set in 2002 in the World Fit for Children declaration, in view of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and in particular MDGs 4 & 5 (reduction of child mortality and the improvement of maternal health).

Immunisation is well suited to use IFF-generated¹ funds because it:

• Is an essential and highly cost-effective intervention that is integral to the public health system;
• Has the potential to save millions of children's lives through a substantial ramp-up in coverage rates;
• Can use resources to accelerate vaccine market forces;
• Can be scaled up quickly, even in resource-poor settings;
• Is a key first (and sometimes, only) point of contact for mothers and children with the health systems, and can be used to deliver other interventions such as vitamin A and insecticide-treated bed nets;
• Can channel funds through an existing effective system.

IFFIm eligible countries may include:

Afghanistan Angola Armenia Azerbaijan Bangladesh Benin Bhutan Bolivia Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Central African   Republic Chad Comoros Congo, Rep. Congo, Dem. Rep.

Côte d'Ivoire Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Gambia Georgia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras India Indonesia Kenya Kiribati Kyrgyz Republic Lao PDR

Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Moldova Mongolia Mozambique Myanmar Nepal Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea Rwanda São Tomé &   Principe

Senegal Sierra Leone Solomon Islands Somalia Sri Lanka Sudan Tajikistan Tanzania Timor-Leste Togo Uganda Ukraine Uzbekistan Viet Nam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

¹ In January 2003 the UK Treasury and the Department for International Development (DFID) launched a proposal for an International Finance Facility (IFF). The IFF is designed to frontload aid to help meet the Millennium Development Goals, addressing the $50 billion per year increase in development aid necessary to meet these goals by 2015. The IFF for Immunisation (IFFIm) is the first IFF programme to be launched.