Canada and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

On this page

• About Gavi
• Effective investment in global health
• Achievements

About Gavi

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a health partnership that supports immunization access in 57 low- and middle-income countries. Gavi works with public and private partners. They provide new and underused vaccines to children living in some of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Gavi helps buy and deliver vaccines that immunize children against 19 infectious diseases, including:

• diphtheria
• tetanus
• polio
• measles
• yellow fever
• cholera
• meningitis

Since its beginnings, Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children and saved an estimated 17 million lives (2023 figures). However roughly 1.5 million children die from vaccine-preventable illness every year. Nearly 20 million infants are still not able to access life-saving vaccines.

Effective investment in global health

Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective investments in global health. Gavi’s work aligns with Canada’s 10-Year Commitment to Global Health and Rights.

Canada and Gavi are long-term partners. Canada has been a member of the Gavi Board since its creation. To date, Canada has provided Gavi with more than $1.6 billion in core funding.

Our work with Gavi focuses on:

• ensuring vaccines reach children at risk of being left behind, including those living in areas of fragility and conflict
• scaling up HPV vaccination to protect more adolescent girls from cervical cancer
• supporting the rollout of the world’s first malaria vaccine in high-risk areas across Africa
• responding to vaccine preventable disease outbreaks including:
  • measles
  • cholera
  • Ebola
• supporting strategies that reduce barrier to vaccination such as:
  • gender
  • disability
  • ethnicity
  • economic status 

Achievements

As of 2023, with the help of Canada and other donors, Gavi has achieved the following results:

• Preventing more than 17 million deaths through essential childhood vaccines.
• Vaccinating 1 billion children worldwide, including 400 million children against polio.
• Strengthening the vaccination systems of more than 60 countries, including through 65,000 cold chain storage units.
• Generating US $220.5 billion in economic benefits in countries that Gavi support.

Related link

• Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
• Project Browser
• Canada’s 10-Year Commitment to Global Health and Rights (international.gc.ca)