More than 162,000 children are vaccinated in Africa and Latin America thanks to 283 companies in Murcia through the "la Caixa" Foundation's Child Vaccination Alliance
The Alliance for Child Vaccination of the "la Caixa" Foundation has managed to immunise 162,556 especially vulnerable children in Africa and Latin America thanks to the solidarity of 283 companies from Murcia that have been part of this solidarity action since 2008.
For this reason, an event was held this Tuesday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Child Vaccination Alliance, which was attended by the director of the International Area of the "la Caixa" Foundation, H.R.H. Princess Cristina, representatives of CaixaBank, Gavi and the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), as well as business people who are part of the project.
The meeting was an opportunity to highlight the 15 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 difficulties in accessing healthcare. 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 immunised a total of six million children against pneumonia, a lung infection that remains the leading cause of child mortality in the world today. Another three million children have received the pentavalent vaccine, which protects against diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria and others.
To this end, the child vaccination programme relies on contributions from the "la Caixa" Foundation, donations received from 3,700 companies throughout Spain and customers of the financial institution, as well as micro-donations from the public and contributions from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In total, almost nine million children have been vaccinated in 10 countries in Africa and Latin America, including Mozambique, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Central African Republic, Sudan, Bolivia and Tanzania.
"At the "la Caixa" Foundation we will continue to be committed to the project, adding our efforts to Gavi's work, because we firmly believe that we must all continue to work to prevent child mortality due to lack of vaccines. It is our duty", emphasised the director general of the "la Caixa" Foundation, Antonio Vila Bertrán.
Renewed commitment in the fight against infant mortality
The collection is based on the matching fund formula, according to which all donations received are multiplied by four. This is because, for every euro donated, the "la Caixa" Foundation adds another euro, up to a limit of two million euros, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation adds two euros more, up to a limit of four million euros. In this way, in the last four years, 100% of Gavi's demand for the pneumonia vaccine in Mozambique has been financed and 25% in Ethiopia in 2021 and 2022.
In 2023, the "la Caixa" Foundation, Gavi's first private partner in Europe, has renewed its commitment to the international organisation to double all contributions made to this alliance up to a limit of two million euros. The project also offers third parties the possibility of making donations. Thus, the initiative receives donations from companies as part of its corporate social responsibility. The opportunity for collaboration also extends to CaixaBank customers and employees, as well as to society in general, as a philanthropic initiative in the fight against infant mortality.
For its part, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which in 2011 launched the Matching Fund initiative, also maintains its commitment to double the sum of all funds contributed to Gavi by 2023 to a limit of four million euros, while ISGlobal, which joined this business alliance as a strategic partner in 2014, continues to contribute its scientific and academic expertise to the project.
All the financial contributions made by the organisations, private companies and society in general are intended to increase the funds used to promote 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 and Ethiopia to fight against pneumonia, a lung infection that is still the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide.
A child dies of pneumonia every 42 seconds worldwide
On 26 and 27 April, the "la Caixa" Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Every Breath Counts Coalition organised the 2nd Childhood Pneumonia Forum at CaixaForum Madrid, in which Gavi also participated. The event brought together more than 300 participants, including senior officials from 14 governments whose countries account for 60% of all child pneumonia deaths. The event was also attended by members of the Spanish government, leaders of UN and multilateral development agencies, major donors, NGOs, private companies and the scientific community.
The international forum served as a space for debate and analysis of the new challenges following COVID-19, in order to subsequently decide on actions and measures to be taken by the governments involved to reduce child pneumonia deaths and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal on child survival (SDG 3).
A pioneering alliance
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 a 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 has the commitment of the CaixaBank Empresas and CaixaBank Banca Privada teams, as well as its entire branch network, which are key to dissemination and fundraising.
To this end, CaixaBank Empresas carries out intense awareness-raising work among its customers, offering them the opportunity to contribute to access to and quality of vaccines in developing countries as a social responsibility 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 one of 34 candidates for the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.
The "la Caixa" Foundation, more than a century building a better world
Giving opportunities to the people who need them most with the aim of contributing to building a fairer and more equitable society is the raison d'être of the "la Caixa" Foundation, created in 1904. This makes it the leading private foundation in Spain and one of the most important in the international arena. The priority of the "la Caixa" Foundation is the development of social programmes that respond to the great challenges of our time, such as the promotion of employment among groups with difficulties, the fight against child poverty, care for people with advanced illnesses and the promotion of active and healthy ageing. Medical research, training of excellence, culture and education, fundamental to promoting progress and equal opportunities, are other strategic lines of action of the Foundation.