The GAVI Board said it “will take the first steps towards the introduction of HPV and rubella vaccines in developing countries.” Regarding HPV vaccine, GAVI said that “if negotiations to secure a sustainable price from manufacturers are successful and countries can demonstrate their ability to deliver the vaccines, up to two million women and girls in nine countries could be protected from cervical cancer by 2015.”  Regarding rubella, GAVI said that “responding to projected demand from 30 countries and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the Board also agreed to open a funding window for vaccines against the rubella virus, which threatens pregnancies and child health. The plan is to reach 588 million children by 2015.” Seth Berkley MD, CEO of GAVI, commented, “These two initiatives have huge potential impact for women and families in the developing world…The HPV vaccine is critical to women and girls in poorer countries because they usually do not have access to screening to prevent cervical cancer and treatment taken for granted in richer nations. Today, we have taken deliberate first steps to correct this inequity.”  GAVI-funded rubella vaccines will be combined for easy delivery with measles vaccines in a single measles-rubella (MR) shot, supporting the global measles immunisation effort. If contracted by pregnant women, rubella can lead to multiple severe birth defects that cause lifelong disabilities. Some 90,000 birth defects occur each year in GAVI-eligible countries, equivalent to 80% of the global burden. It can also lead to miscarriage and stillbirth. The GAVI Board also said it will consider funding a vaccine against Japanese encephalitis once an appropriate vaccine is prequalified by WHO, and that it “looked forward to the development of an appropriate conjugate vaccine against typhoid.”

http://www.gavialliance.org/library/news/press-releases/2011/gavi-takes-first-steps-to-introduce-vaccines-against-cervical-cancer-and-rubella/