Extending the reach of existing life-saving vaccines, and developing new vaccines against diseases endemic in poor countries, are the Foundation's top priorities.

Expanding Access to Life-Saving Vaccines

Every year, the lives of 3 million children are saved by routine immunization against diseases such as polio, measles and diphtheria. An additional 4 million children could be saved each year by providing access to the series of vaccines routinely given to children in North America, Europe and Australia. The Global Fund for Children's Vaccines, launched in 1999 with a $750 million grant, will work closely with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) to purchase new and underused vaccines and the means to deliver them to children in 50 or more of the world's poorest countries. The Fund will build upon the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Children’s Vaccine Program, established in 1998 with a $100 million grant, to significantly reduce the time it currently takes for new vaccines to reach children in the developing world.

For more information:

Immunization Focus -- a newsletter issued quarterly on the GAVI Web site
Closing the Immunization Gap -- GAVI's call to action

"The ward for measles, if you go there now, is empty!...
But while we see lots of progress, 
we still have our job cut out for us..." Learn more...

The near-total eradication of polio is one of the great global health success stories. Yet pockets of polio still exist and recent outbreaks in Chechnya, Pakistan, Zaire and Albania underscore the obstacles that remain. The Foundation awarded $50 million to support the World Health Organization led Global Polio Eradication Initiative for the final push to eradicate the disease. 

Vaccine Development

Vaccines are the foundation of infectious disease control and represent the best hope for combating three diseases ravaging the developing world: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Together, this trio kills more than 5 million people — many of them children — each year.

HIV/AIDS Vaccine

AIDS is exacting a terrible toll worldwide. With 16,000 new HIV infections a day, 95 percent of them in developing countries, the need for better prevention measures, including an effective vaccine, is urgent. Shortening the time it takes to find a vaccine can save millions of lives. The Foundation awarded $25 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) to speed development of an AIDS vaccine. 

"Young girls -- our children, our grandchildren -- they are dying before we die.
You can hear others my age saying things like, 
'I've lost my three children; the first one has left three children...'"
Learn more...

Malaria Vaccine

Malaria is the most prevalent of all tropical diseases. One third of the world’s population, 2.3 billion people, are at risk of infection and 300 to 500 million people are infected each year. Malaria kills 2 million people each year, most of them children in sub-Saharan Africa. Although drugs that treat the illness have been around for some time, the malaria parasite continues to develop resistance to these drugs. The world badly needs a vaccine. The Foundation created the Malaria Vaccine Initiative with a $50 million grant to the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) to accelerate the development of promising malaria vaccine candidates. 

"Public sector funding is not at a level to drive 
malaria vaccine research ahead quickly..." Learn more...

Tuberculosis Vaccine

Of the 6 billion people currently inhabiting the world, 2.1 billion (30 percent) are infected with tuberculosis (TB). More than 10 percent of these infected individuals, or 200 million people, will develop the active and infectious disease, and more than 30 million will die in the next decade. Bacillus Camille Guerin (BCG) vaccine, invented in 1921, is very useful in preventing certain types of TB in children; however, multi-drug resistant TB is emerging around the world. The chronic conditions of malnutrition and crowded living quarters found in many developing countries create a fertile breeding ground for the disease. The Foundation awarded $25 million to the Sequella Global Tuberculosis Foundation to create the Tuberculosis International Vaccine Collaborative. 

"The number one killer of women is not breast cancer,
 not heart disease, not maternal complications, but tuberculosis,
 a curable infectious disease..."  Learn more... 

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View all grants for Vaccine Preventable Diseases