Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg

Speech at GAVI Symposium

Holmenkollen Park Hotel, Oslo, 13 June 2000

Ministers,
Director-General,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In 15 years the international community will take stock and ask:

Did we manage by 2015 to half the number of people living in extreme poverty as we pledged during the major UN conferences of the 1990’s?

We who are gathered here today have the chance to make it a little bit more likely that the answer will be yes.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization is one big joint venture for development.

The United Nations, the World Bank, the private sector and governments from developed and developing countries rally for the cause of health in development.

The ambition is to immunize every child and give them the opportunity to avoid disease and develop their potential.

It is a tall order.
A bold ambition.
A noble task.

I take great pleasure in welcoming the GAVI Board and a number of distinguished ministers and other guests to Oslo.

A special welcome goes to the Director-General of the World Health Organization – or let me be more direct; to Gro.

We have not seen you much in Norway during the last two years.

Welcoming you here to day explains why. You are as always busy delivering on your life long promise; to do whatever you can to make a difference. A difference for people’s opportunity to take full advantage of their potential and live lives in dignity.

And nowhere is this noble mission be more needed than in the area of global health.

It is an honour for my government to lend its full support to GAVI’s work and objectives.

In developed countries, like Norway, we take so many fundamental rights for granted.

One such right is that every newborn child is offered immunization against killing childhood diseases.

Sometimes we forget that it did not use to be like this.

Not too many decades ago Norway had its share of disease and premature death, especially among children. The gradual building of a national health system went hand in hand with the social and economic development of modern Norway.

And at the core of what the primary health system could deliver was immunization.

Child survival was the key to reduced fertility and more stable families.

Today, we take all of this for granted – as we should in a modern welfare state.

But at the same time it might serve as a wake up call.

Because access or not to routine immunization is one of the many striking illustrations of the differences between the haves and the have-nots in our world.

Because we are getting an impressive amount of knowledge on how much health matters for development of any nation and any people - and above all – how much health matters in the fight against poverty.

Because we learn about new and promising breakthroughs in the area of vaccine research and because there is such an urgent need to make progress in the search for a vaccine against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

And because this is not yet another story of hopelessness.

This is a story of hope, although the challenge is so big.

30 million children grow up without vaccination. About 3 million of them will die as a result.

3 million children. That amounts to 6 every minute – every day, every week, every year.

And yet it is a story of hope.

Because we can do something about it.

And that is what my government has decided:

We will help immunize every child.

Supporting GAVI is a continuation of Norwegian development policy. We have always focused on health as an important component of our development cooperation.

But at the same time there is something new.

With immunization there is a direct link between what we support and what we achieve.

Much development work is – and has to be - long term. But we also need examples of how development cooperation really matters. Immunizing every child is indeed one such example.

I announced the intention of my Government to actively support GAVI in my inaugural address to Parliament in March. I pledged to offer Norway’s support to this initiative, financially as well as politically.

Today I wish to look ahead and make a five year pledge of 1 billion kroner – or about 125 million dollars to the objectives fixed by GAVI. As a first step we will propose to Parliament that Norway grants 200 million kroner for the next budget year. That equals 25 million dollars.

Our support will go beyond filling up a fund.

Let me explain how.

The injection of a vaccine is a powerful illustration of hope.

But all in this room know what it takes to get to the point where a trained healthworker can provide that injection.

It takes money.

It takes infrastructure.

It takes trained people.

In short – it takes a health system.

Our support to the GAVI objectives will be an important part of our strategy to support stronger health systems in poor countries.

Health is development, but good health is also a stepping stone to democracy.

In two weeks I will receive President Obasanjo of Nigeria here in Oslo.

Nigeria is key to the future of Africa.

In 1990 almost 90 per cent of Nigerian children were immunized.

Ten years later that number had declined to 20 percent.

8 out of 10 Nigerian baby boys and girls enter childhood without the protection of routine immunization.

The toll on Nigeria’s future will be high. Because Nigeria’s future – as any country’s future – depends on its people – their health and their knowledge.

What had happened between 1990 and 1999?

The health system broke down. The infrastructure connecting 36 states in the federal republic disintegrated.

I have been told that enough vaccines were available. But they never reached the ones who so badly needed them.

Because the generals did not care.

Now President Obasanjo – elected by the aspiration of a great people – is rebuilding that infrastructure. From the local level to the federal level. He shares our objective; to help immunize every child.

Those in charge are taking charge. Because in a democracy those in charge are accountable.

Norway will support the people of Nigeria in rebuilding the health system and thereby securing the foundation of democracy.

Rebuilding the infrastructure for immunization can lead the way in rebuilding the primary health care system. To restore trust in the public sector. And thus to restore trust in democracy.

I believe that a strong and competent public sector is key to securing the welfare of Norwegians. And equal access to fundamental welfare services - such as health and care – is a prime result of what a modern democratic government should deliver.

I believe that goes for any country. It goes for Nigeria as well as for Norway.

Last week I spent a day together with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and my colleagues from the Nordic countries. On our agenda was how the international community can mobilize new support to Africa.

In the last century Africa won independence. But it lost development.

We agreed to join forces – and actively call on the support by other states and partners to turn the tide in this century. A real agenda for development. And President Mbeki was very clear; at the core of that agenda must be health.

What should unite us – welfare states and developing countries - is the need for public sector values in the age of globalisation.

There are certain things that the market cannot deliver.

Key among them is the value of equity.

It takes a public sector to secure equity and fair distribution of health and education.

GAVI is a vote for the best of such modern global public sector values.

Reaching the poorest.

Long term objectives.

Working in partnership.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Norway will actively support your work.

Immunizing every child is a noble task.

When I took office I was asked what I wanted my government to be remembered for.

I took some time to reflect. Because ours is an agenda of many ambitious goals.

Then I thought: It would be an honour if we were be remembered for having made a real impact in helping immunize every child in the world.

Because nothing offers more hope than a healthy child ready for life.