President John Dramani Mahama made a sharp comparison between military spending and the cost of saving lives through vaccination during his speech at a global health summit hosted by Gavi and the Gates Foundation in Brussels on Wednesday. He informed attendees that the $9 billion the Gavi vaccine alliance is seeking over five years is the same as the price of just four B-2 Spirit bombers.
“This morning, I took time to reflect, researched, and discovered that one B-2 Spirit bomber that dropped bombs on Iran recently cost $2.13 billion,” President Mahama said at the Gavi vaccine alliance pledging session. “If you work the math, Gavi seeks the value of four of those B-2 bombers. Surely, the world can invest the equivalent cost of four B-2 bombers to save 500 million children.”
He presented the financial decision as an important ethical issue that the world community must make. “It’s a choice we have to make, between taking lives and saving lives, and I am sure we will save lives instead of taking them,” he said.
The President gave a very personal experience of the effects of diseases that can be prevented by vaccination, which prompted the need for further financing.
He talked of his younger brother, who suffered from polio as a child and was permanently stigmatized, depressed, and eventually killed by alcohol poisoning.
He compared the optimism that Gavi currently offers to millions of people worldwide with his own early years, when vaccination access was limited in his area.
“Today, Gavi has changed all that and given hope to millions of children,” he stated, adding that Gavi’s efforts allow children to grow into “responsible citizens,” he added.
President Mahama highlighted Ghana’s collaboration with Gavi and said he was proud of the country’s 97% vaccination coverage rate.
He expressed confidence that Gavi’s assistance will aid in locating the remaining 3%, or roughly 65,000 youngsters in isolated locations, albeit acknowledging the difficulty of doing so.
Ghana, a lower-middle-income nation, partners with Gavi to co-finance its vaccination initiatives. President Mahama outlined Ghana’s efforts to boost its share, including the uncapping of the national health insurance fund, which has made a sizable contribution to the financing of vaccines possible.
He pointed out that Ghana has front-loaded $20 million for co-financing this year and has spent nearly $67 million on vaccinations in collaboration with Gavi in prior years.
Citing Indonesia as an example, President Mahama stated Ghana’s goal to expedite its shift from receiving Gavi financing to becoming a donor nation by 2030.
He endorsed the tagline, “While others step back, we step up,” and thanked Gavi and the nations that had made important commitments during the summit.
Over the following five years (2026–2030), Gavi wants to raise $9 billion to vaccinate 500 million children worldwide.
In order to prepare youngsters to become “tomorrow’s scientists, engineers, nurses, teachers, and doctors,” President Mahama contended that this endeavor was an essential investment in the future.
Source: newsthemegh.com