No child should die from vaccine-preventable diseases – Supporting Gavi provides an opportunity to be a global leader

“Life or death for a young child too often depends on whether he or she is born in a country where vaccines are available or not”. Those were the words of Gavi’s inaugural Board Chair, Nelson Mandela, over 20 years ago. The injustice he spoke of is what Gavi has fought against every day since it was established in 2000.

It’s a fight that has led to more than 1 billion children vaccinated, to more than 18 million avoidable deaths prevented in low-income countries. It is a fight that makes all of us safer here at home by stopping outbreaks of infectious diseases from reaching our shores. And it is a fight that Labour governments, Conservative governments, and the British people have supported from the start.

From Tony Blair’s championing of Gavi at its launch in 2000, to Gordon Brown’s leading role in the creation of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation that helps to fund Gavi’s work, it is Labour who have helped this organisation innovate, Labour who have helped it succeed in immunising over one billion children–that’s an eighth of humanity–against a range of deadly diseases. It is Labour who, through funding treatment, prevention and support services and strengthening health systems, has cut the combined death rate from AIDS related illnesses, TB and malaria by an incredible 61% – saving 65 million lives.

It is a Labour legacy that, in the 25 years since Gavi was launched, childhood mortality in under-5s has been reduced by over 50%; and vaccine preventable deaths by over 70% where Gavi operates. Thanks to our party’s commitment, the coverage of key treatment and prevention interventions for HIV, TB and malaria in countries where the Global Fund invests has increased significantly. In 2010, TB treatment coverage was 45%. In 2023, it reached 70%. In 2010, the percentage of the population with access to a long-lasting insecticide-treated net to prevent malaria was 30%. In 2023 it reached 57%. In 2010, only 22% of people living with HIV were on antiretroviral therapy. In 2023 it reached 78%. We can continue that Labour legacy.

Supporting Gavi and immunisation around the world not only shores up global health security, UK soft power and the security and resilience of the NHS, it also stimulates UK science and innovation. The UK is home to major vaccine manufacturers like GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and AstraZeneca. The UK Vaccine Network helped to develop the malaria and Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, both of which have been procured and rolled out by Gavi worldwide.

There are still 1.5 million children dying each year from vaccine preventable diseases. Globally, there were 1.3 million new HIV acquisitions in 2023, 10.8 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) and approximately 1.25 million people died from the disease in 2023, and there were an estimated 263 million new malaria cases and 597,000 malaria deaths in 2023.

Yet, five major donors, the US, UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, who provide 90% of funding for the HIV response have cut international aid funding by between 8% and 70%. The latest modelling by the Burnet Institute (May 2025) estimates that as a result of recent and planned aid cuts there could be between 4.4 million to 10.8 million additional new HIV cases by 2030 in low-and-middle income countries, and between 770,000 to 2.9 million HIV-related deaths in children and adults by 2030.

UNAIDS predictions estimate that if U.S. assistance is not restored after April, and is not replaced by other funding, then there will be 6.3 million additional AIDS-related deaths and 8.7 million additional new HIV infections in the next 4 years. It will return the HIV pandemic to the emergency levels of the early 2000s.

In Milton Keynes we have a high level of HIV cases. But 99% of people living with HIV are on treatment, and 99% of them are virally suppressed – meaning they can’t pass the virus on. When governments invest the necessary resources, we can stop the spread of these deadly diseases. But the epidemic isn’t over anywhere until it’s over everywhere – and we need to do all we can to ensure that there is the same commitment to health globally as there is domestically.

The COVID pandemic also showed us that no country is safe until all countries are safe. Thanks to early investment in vaccine research and manufacturing, the UK secured access to vaccines like the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, developed on home soil. We were one of the first countries to approve and administer a COVID-19 vaccine, and we reached tens of millions within months. But new variants of the virus, some more infectious or vaccine-resistant, emerged in parts of the world with lower vaccine coverage, ultimately threatening progress made at home.

All but one of the public health emergencies of international concern that have been declared by WHO have been controlled using vaccines. Global vaccination isn’t just a moral imperative, it’s a matter of self-interest.

I am encouraged by the UK’s commitment to co-host the Global Fund’s 8th replenishment alongside the Government of South Africa and the statement the Prime Minister made that although the UK is cutting ODA from 0.7 to 0.5% of GNI, it would continue to support global health. However, with limited resources we need to focus on the approaches that have a strong track record of working, and that approach is through multilateralism.

Continued UK investment in Gavi is not a zero sum game; it brings huge opportunities for the UK economy. In her budget last year, the Chancellor prioritised policies which could support further expansion of the life sciences sector with a record £20.4 billion investment for UK R&D around the UK. Gavi is a key mechanism through which UK-led innovation reaches the world’s most vulnerable, which in turn brings investment back into the UK’s leading research, generating a virtuous cycle of innovation. Gavi ensures that the tools made possible by British science don’t just sit in the labs but reach those that need them.

Based on forecasts for 2026-2030, Gavi’s procurements in the UK could be worth £530 million. Estimates show that UK investment in malaria R&D could generate over £2 billion of additional GDP for the UK. R&D on neglected tropical diseases could drive £4 billion of private sector investment in R&D and create almost 4,000 jobs, according to a report by Malaria No More. Unitaid gained an A+, the highest rating, in their FCDO annual review this year – every 75p invested into Unitaid represents a £35 return on investment by ensuring access to health innovations.

This is why these initiatives have always had broad cross-party support, and the support of the British public. Not just because supporting vaccination in the world’s poorest countries is the right thing to do. But it is also good for Britain.

This isn’t about charity – it’s about partnerships between willing allies in the fight against global diseases. These organisations centre sustainability in their partnership approaches – governments must show they are increasing their investment in their domestic responses alongside contributing to the global response. Global Fund incentivises countries to progressively increase domestic financing for health and the three diseases as well as absorbs specific program costs by making a proportion of grants contingent on domestic financing performance.

Gavi ensures that countries can sustain high coverage and equal access to vaccines after Gavi support ends, by making sure they have robust systems in place to introduce future, new vaccines, independent of Gavi. Its support is aimed at lower-income countries, is time-limited and directly linked to the governments’ ability to pay for vaccines.

Last year, the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee, chaired by Baroness Brown of Cambridge, said: “The UK is potentially well-placed to develop a world-leading vaccine research and manufacturing sector, as demonstrated during the pandemic. This is due to its strengths in bioprocess engineering, early-stage vaccine development from academia, the footprint of large pharma companies, and vaccine-relevant expertise in cell and gene therapies.”

No child should die from vaccine-preventable diseases. The UK must not allow the reversal of years of progress, leaving the world less secure in the face of inevitable future emergencies. Gavi’s next strategic period (2026-2030) provides this Labour government with an opportunity to bolster its global leadership in science and innovation. Gavi’s vaccine programmes over the next 5 years aim to reach an additional 500 million children and save 8-9 million lives. Gavi will continue to invest in vaccine programmes and global stockpiles against outbreak-prone diseases such as Ebola, Cholera and Yellow Fever. These are gains worth investing in.