More than 107,000 children are vaccinated in Africa thanks to the collaboration of 78 companies in La Coruña
The Alliance for Child Vaccination of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation has managed to immunise 107,467 especially vulnerable children in Africa thanks to the contributions of 78 companies in La Coruña that have collaborated with this solidarity action since 2008. In Galicia as a whole these figures have risen to 190,876 children vaccinated and 125 collaborating companies.
This Tuesday an event was held to commemorate the Child Vaccination Alliance, which was attended by the director of the International Area of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, H.R.H. Infanta Doña Cristina; the director of the Northern Territory of CaixaBank, Pedro Badiola; Magdalena Robert, Deputy Director of Advocacy and Communication of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the head of Donor Relations and Campaigns of Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, Eduard Molnar, as well as representatives of companies collaborating with the alliance, such as Belén Lago, shareholder of Grupo Oca - Obras Civiles del Atlántico.
The meeting was an opportunity to highlight the more than 16 years of this initiative, which fights against preventable diseases that pose a great risk to the lives of children in their countries of origin due to the difficulties of access to health care.
The initiative, promoted by the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation together with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in Africa, has the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the collaboration of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). Together they have managed to immunise more than 10 million children against pneumonia, a lung infection that is still the leading cause of infant mortality in the world today, and to protect them against diseases such as tetanus and diphtheria, among others, thanks to the pentavalent vaccine.
To this end, the child vaccination programme relies on contributions from the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, donations received from 5,000 companies throughout Spain and customers of the financial institution and contributions from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In total, 10 million children in 10 countries in Africa and Latin America have been vaccinated. Countries such as Mozambique, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Central African Republic, Sudan, Bolivia and Tanzania.
‘At the Foundation we are very proud that this Alliance has the confidence of so many companies and so many customers who renew their support year after year. All of them are key players in this process and jointly responsible for the great impact achieved,’ said the Director of the International Area of the “la Caixa” Foundation, H.R.H. Princess Cristina.
Renewed commitment to the fight against infant mortality
With the aim of boosting the support of the private sector of Companies and Customers for this Alliance for Child Vaccination, all donations received are multiplied by four through the Matching Fund initiative. This is because, for every euro donated, the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation adds another euro and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation adds another two euros.
Pneumonia is still the leading global cause of infant mortality today. In the last five years, all the funds raised by the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation have made it possible to finance 100% of the cost of vaccination programmes against this disease in Mozambique and 25% in Ethiopia in 2021 and 2022.
In 2024, the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, the first private partner of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in Europe, has renewed its commitment to the international organisation to double all contributions received to this alliance up to a limit of two million euros. Thus, the initiative receives donations from companies as part of its corporate social responsibility and also extends to CaixaBank customers, as a philanthropic initiative in the fight against infant mortality.
For its part, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which launched the Matching Fund initiative in 2011, also maintains its commitment to double the sum of all funds contributed to Gavi by 2024 to a limit of four million euros, while ISGlobal, a Gavi Board member since 2016, joined this business alliance as a strategic partner in 2014, continues to contribute its scientific and academic expertise to the project.
All financial contributions made by private companies and clients are intended to expand the funds used to support the immunisation of children in 10 countries in Africa and Latin America. The main focus is on the distribution of the pneumococcal vaccine in Mozambique to combat pneumonia, a lung infection that is still the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide.
A pioneering partnership
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that brings together developing countries and donors, including governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other private sector partners, including the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation as the leading foundation in Spain.
Since its inception in 2000, its mission has been to save lives, reduce poverty and protect the world against the threat of epidemics and pandemics. To this end, it has helped to vaccinate more than one billion children in 78 countries by the end of 2022.
The special feature of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation's Child Vaccination Alliance is the involvement of CaixaBank's customers, both companies and individuals, in a pioneering corporate social responsibility project in Europe. The Child Vaccination Alliance relies on the commitment of the CaixaBank Empresas and CaixaBank Banca Privada teams, as well as its entire branch network, to disseminate information and raise funds, which has been key to the success of this initiative.
To this end, CaixaBank Empresas is working hard to raise awareness among its customers, offering them the opportunity to contribute to access to and quality of vaccines in developing countries as a socially responsible action that allows them to give back to society part of what they have received from it. For its part, CaixaBank Banca Privada promotes support for Gavi within the framework of its Social Value Project, which supports and encourages the philanthropic concerns of its customers.
The ‘la Caixa’ Foundation has reached 10 countries in Africa and Latin America, including Mozambique, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Central African Republic, Sudan, Bolivia and Tanzania. In recent years, the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation has focused especially on Mozambique with the pneumococcal vaccine against pneumonia, a disease that is currently the leading cause of infant mortality in the country. For its part, Gavi was chosen as the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation from among the 34 candidates competing for the award.
