Africa: Make vaccines for Africa in Africa, GAVI told

As donors gathered for a major meeting on funding vaccines for the developing world, campaigners called for vaccine production to be transferred to Africa to save money and contribute to the continent's broader economic development. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), a public-private initiative, is asking for US$3.7 billion in funding over the next four years to immunise 243 million children against a variety of diseases. But vaccines supported by GAVI are produced almost entirely in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia, said the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), based in Switzerland.