Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Board Chair of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, discusses the huge potential of technology to break down barriers to development, and provides examples of new innovations being used to tackle infectious diseases in hard to reach communities across the Commonwealth.
“If we are to continue to make progress, we have to find new ways to reach those missing out, including the millions hiding in plain sight in our cities.”
Over the last two decades, we have made encouraging progress in tackling some of the biggest challenges in global development, improving the health, wealth and quality of life for millions of people across the Commonwealth. Fewer people live in extreme poverty and more children are getting the quality schooling they need to unlock their intellectual and economic potential. Child mortality rates have dropped dramatically, as have deaths due to infectious diseases. And women and girls are increasingly closing the opportunity and empowerment gap between them and their male counterparts.
One key reason for this unprecedented progress was a collective commitment by world leaders to devote more resources, energy and ingenuity to big, seemingly insurmountable global problems, first through the Millennium Development Goals and now through the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals…
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Board Chair, GAVI
