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News from around the sector
'Vaccine bonds' offer ethical investment and health for children
, Added: 21 January 2009Top-rated ‘vaccine bonds’ that aim to raise over $250m to help vaccinate children in poor countries will go on sale in Japan in February.
The International Finance Facility for Immunisation Company (IFFIm), a multilateral development institution, which raises funds to support a vaccine-focused alliance including governments and UNICEF, is aiming to raise $500m this year, launching the ‘vaccine bonds’ in Japan.
The IFFIm was created to accelerate the availability of predictable, long-term funds for health and immunisation programmes through the GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) in 70 of the poorest countries around the world.
Based on investor demand, the planned ‘vaccine bonds’ will be offered in South African rand, Australian dollars and New Zealand dollars - higher-yielding currencies that have been popular with retail investors. The bonds will offer Japanese investors a fixed rate of return and the opportunity to see their money used to help immunise children in the world’s poorest countries.
"IFFIm is an innovative way of raising money for development. Since its launch in 2006, it has already significantly expanded GAVI’s ability to help countries strengthen their immunisation programmes,” said Alice Albright, Chief Financial Officer of the GAVI Alliance.
The GAVI Alliance is a public-private partnership that aims to immunise children in the poorest countries. It brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, NGOs, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.
