Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and UBA Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group, have joined together to strengthen health systems and raise awareness of immunisation across Africa, starting in 2018 with Nigeria.
“We are delighted to work with the UBA Foundation to help protect children across Nigeria against some of the world’s deadliest diseases,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi the Vaccine Alliance. “Strong, sustainable health systems are key to ensuring no child misses out on lifesaving vaccines which is why this partnership will make a real difference, reducing child mortality and helping to meet the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030.”
The partnership with the UBA Foundation aims to raise $1.5 million over the next two years by leveraging UBA’s network of partners to support Gavi’s immunisation programmes in Nigeria.
The UBA Foundation will also advocate for immunisation in Nigeria, which has one of the lowest vaccine coverage rates in the world.
“The United Bank for Africa and the UBA Foundation have been impacting lives positively in Nigeria and across the African continent for several decades, and this is another opportunity to make a difference in the lives of millions of Africans,” said Kennedy Uzoka, UBA Group CEO and Chairman of the UBA Foundation. “We are proud of the partnership with Gavi which will run until the end of 2020, with both institutions focused on the overall aim to provide innovative solutions that can increase the capacity of healthcare systems in Nigeria and across Africa.”
In the last five years over 14 million children in Nigeria have been vaccinated against some of the world’s deadliest diseases with support from Gavi. If Nigeria meets its targets for vaccine coverage, it will be able to prevent at least one million deaths by 2028.
“However, Nigeria needs to invest more domestic resources in health and immunisation,” said Dr Berkley. ”The private sector can be a crucial partner to help leverage expertise and provide new solutions to ensure children across Nigeria have the opportunity to lead long, healthy lives.”
United Bank for Africa (UBA), Africa’s global bank, is committed to being a socially responsible company and role model for all businesses in Africa. UBA recognises the need for a social contract between the bank, the community and its people. To this end, UBA became one of the first banks in Africa to institute a Foundation, the UBA Foundation. UBA Foundation has been impacting lives positively on the African continent for over a decade.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is supported by donor governments (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the People’s Republic of China, Principality of Monaco, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the State of Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States), the European Commission, Alwaleed Philanthropies, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as private and corporate partners (Absolute Return for Kids, Anglo American plc., The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, China Merchants Group, Comic Relief, Deutsche Post DHL, the ELMA Vaccines and Immunization Foundation, Girl Effect, The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (IFPW), the Gulf Youth Alliance, JP Morgan, “la Caixa” Foundation, LDS Charities, Lions Clubs International Foundation, Majid Al Futtaim, Orange, Philips, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, UPS and Vodafone).
