WHAT IS THE IMMUNISATION ACCELERATOR?

Together GSK and Save the Children share a vision of a world where no child suffers from a vaccine-preventable disease and every child’s health is protected.

The Save the Children Immunisation Accelerator is designed to help make that vision a reality by investing in local 'Innovation Partners' who have solutions that tackle the barriers to child immunisation.

The Immunisation Accelerator seeks to support the design, piloting and evaluation of locally-led solutions that reach more children with life-saving vaccines.

Every year, 20 million infants do not receive a full course of even basic vaccines, and many more miss out on newer vaccines. Of these, more than 13 million receive no vaccines at all – the 'zero dose' children.

In Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia are two countries with the largest number of zero-dose children – with more than 2.2 million and 1.1 million children respectively. Two in five zero-dose children in Africa live in one of these two countries.

Immunisation is a core pillar of children's health worldwide. Vaccinating every child would have an enormous positive impact on child health across the globe – but achieving universal vaccination coverage has proved a significant challenge.

The benefits of immunisation are unevenly shared: coverage varies widely among and within countries. Some populations – often the poorest, the most marginalised and the most vulnerable, in fragile, conflict-torn areas – lack access to immunisation services.

There are long-standing and entrenched barriers to immunisation that can only be overcome with new and creative solutions.