Global Health Policy

The G-8 statement on infectious diseases lists the steps which individual countries will take. These include statements of support for Advance Market Commitments by Canada, Italy, UK, US and Russia which look forward to the launch of a pilot in 2006. Canada and the UK indicate that they specifically support an AMC for a vaccine against pneumococcal infections, which both the the US and Italy are also believed to support. Some of the G8 are also interested in exploring an AMC for malaria vaccines. The Canadians have pledged C$100 million towards a pilot for pneumo - the first specific offer of funds for an AMC.

This is fairly good progress, particularly following a few months when momentum appeared to be sagging. The World Bank and GAVI have led a significant effort on the technical details of designing and implementing an AMC pilot, and a broad coalition of key stakeholders rallied together to keep up the pressure on international governments. Behind-the-scenes briefings, together with press articles, letters and other calls for action on an AMC, helped to overcome bureaucratic inertia and keep the idea moving forward.

The build-up to the G8 meeting saw considerable interest in an AMC from leading media and a clear consensus in favor of the initiative from leaders in industry, public health, development and public policy:

• Article in the New York Times by Elizabeth Rosenthal (16 July)
• Leader in the Washington Post (14 July)
• Leader in the Houston Chronicle (14 July)
• Op-Ed in Liberation by Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer (13 July)
• Coverage by Inter Press Service on the need for a G8 decision (13 July)
• Article in the Wall Street Journal by Michael M. Phillips (7 July)
• Coverage in blogs such as Boing Boing, Mark Thoma, K4D, Christine Gorman
• Coverage by newswire United Press International (7 July)
• A statement by global health leaders (4 July)
• An article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Tom Kalil and Bruce Mehlman, respectively former senior staffers to Bill Clinton and George Bush (2 July)
• An article in the Financial Times (subscription required) by Dr. Christopher Earl, the President and CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health, and Dr. Harvey E. Bale, Jr., the Director-General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations
• An article about Michael Kremer in the July issue of Scientific American
• A call for action on pneumococcal diseases in the Lancet (9 June)

The next steps will be for those countries within the G8 who are eager to implement a pilot proposal for an AMC to establish a process in an existing institution - possibly GAVI - to take it forward, and for these countries to reach out to other possible donors, including countries outside the G8 and perhaps foundations, to participate in the program.

Our verdict: so far so good. We are proud that CGD helped to foster an initiative that has generated such broad support within the G8. We are hopeful that the process will move forward rapidly to implement an AMC which both accelerates the introduction of new vaccines, and demonstrates the utility of the idea as a tool for further increasing investment in, and access to, additional new vaccines that will save millions of lives each year in developing countries.