The European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) were invited by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) to bring a 10 member Parliamentary Delegation to the Alliance's Fourth Partners’ Forum held in Vietnam from 18-20 November 2009. The visit included a mini field visit to a Commune Health Centre. Co-hosted by the Minister of Health of Vietnam and GAVI, the Alliance Partners’ Forum attracted nearly 450 immunisation experts from around the world.

This 4th GAVI Partners’ Forum provided a platform for partners to discuss the role of vaccination and immunisation in achieving the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), review lessons learned in the first 10 years of GAVI's existence, and to share best practices. It enabled participants to exchange ideas about opportunities ahead and ways towards fulfilling GAVI's mission to save children's lives and protect people's health by increasing access to underused and new vaccines in the poorest countries. By participating to the 4th GAVI Partners’ Forum, Parliamentarians had a unique opportunity to learn about GAVI’s key achievements and Board decisions for the years to come and to provide feedback on GAVI’s policies and strategies for 2011-2015.

According to new data released during the 2009 GAVI Partners’ Forum, over the last 10 years, an additional 256 million children under five were immunised and 4 million future deaths averted. Thanks to various workshops and briefing sessions with GAVI officials, and its implementing partners WHO and UNICEF, parliamentarians could gain a first overview of GAVI’s role, mission and achievements, with a specific highlight on Vietnam as key example of success story. Parliamentarians could observe how Vietnam drastically reduced its child mortality rates through strong political commitment to basic immunisation and child health interventions, thus putting the country well on track to reach MDG 4 (Reduce Child Mortality) by 2015. Other briefings, including with the Sabin Vaccine Institute provided a large overview of mechanisms and opportunities of concrete actions for innovative and sustainable immunisation financing such as through the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) and the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), emphasizing the key role recipient Governments and Parliamentarians play in implementing immunisation programmes at country level. In addition, the mini field visit to the Commune Health Center of Thien Pho (130 km north of Hanoi), enabled Parliamentarians to attend a monthly immunisation session for newly born babies, to visit the rural Health Center and to discuss with the local doctor.

At the final plenary session, and on behalf of the Parliamentary Delegation, Hon. Katia della Faille, MP (Belgium) acknowledged the key role played by GAVI in increasing immunisation coverage, improving health systems, training health workers, reducing vaccines’ prices and engaging recipient authorities and partners. She warmly welcomed GAVI’s commitment to involve Parliamentarians from both aid donor and recipient countries within its stakeholders’ discussion as they play a key role as watchdogs and agents of political change towards the achievement of the MDGs. Finally, she mentioned that once back, the members of the Parliamentary Delegation would advocate and engage their Governments in supporting GAVI.

The Parliamentary Delegation included Hon. Marta Alos Lopez, MP Catalan member of the Committee on Women’s rights (Liberal Party), Hon. Jean Cornil, MP member of the Belgian Federal Parliament and substitute for the Committee of Foreign Affairs (Socialist Party), Senator Alain Destexhe, Chair of the Belgian All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) “Parliamentarians for the MDGs” (Liberal Party), EPF’s Malaria Taskforce members Hon. Katia della Faille, MP member of the Belgian APPG “Parliamentarians for the MDGs” (Liberal Party) and Hon. Heli Järvinen, MP member of the Finnish APPG on Population and Development (Green Party), Hon. Francine John-Calame, MP member of the Swiss APPG Cairo + (Green Party), Hon. John Pandazopoulos, MP member of the Australian APPG on Population and Development (Labour Party), and Hon. Lynne Pillay, MP member of the New Zealand APPG on Population and Development (Labour Party).