VillageReach (Seattle)
13 April 2004
press release
VillageReach today announced it would refine and expand its successful healthcare improvement initiatives in developing countries with the receipt of grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank.
These two grants represent significant investments from the global health community to improve access to lifesaving healthcare in the most rural areas of developing countries. The Gates Foundation has awarded $3.3 million and the World Bank has awarded $250,000 to further VillageReach’s efforts to increase immunization rates and improve injection safety, allowing it to extend its reach to 5 million people over the next five years.
The grants enable VillageReach to extend the successful work of its model to additional countries in need. The demonstration project currently serves 42 clinics covering a population of 900,000 and has led to a 40% increase in voluntary immunization rates in participating districts in northern Mozambique. VillageReach is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health and quality of life in the most remote areas of developing countries by focusing on delivering health and human services "the last mile."
"Too often, lifesaving vaccines are out of reach for those who need them most," said David Fleming, MD, director of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Strategies program. "VillageReach has a proven track record of bringing together governmental, private and community partners to increase access to vaccines and other health interventions. The foundation is pleased to support their lifesaving work."
"In many developing countries, critical healthcare delivery systems are either broken or absent altogether," said Blaise Judja-Sato, VillageReach’s founder and presiden. "Our initial work has proven that by providing the network, tools and education necessary to deliver healthcare to those in rural communities, we can make a positive difference in the health and economy of an area. These grants now enable us to replicate this model and significantly extend this important work to a broader geography."
"Of the over 2700 grant applications we received for the 2003 Development Marketplace competition, VillageReach was selected as one of the 47 projects to be awarded funding and, in fact, received the largest grant we award: $250,000," said Joyita Mukherjee, Manager, Development Marketplace 2003, World Bank. "Their focus on improving access to lifesaving healthcare addresses the key challenge of building health care infrastructure in rural Mozambique. We are pleased to support the expansion of VillageReach’s model of delivering critical medical and energy supplies and health care services to millions of poor, rural Mozambicans." The World Bank competition jury, comprised of professionals from across the development community, selected projects based on the following criteria: focus, innovation, realism and results, sustainability and replicability.
VillageReach launched its demonstration project in the Cabo Delgado province of northern Mozambique in July 2002. Its integrated approach to improving health, environmental and economic issues includes building and managing distribution networks and cold chains, introducing improved injection safety technologies and best practices, and providing sources of clean-burning fuel for use in health facilities without access to electricity.
"The work of VillageReach is so important because we know those most affected by infectious disease live in the most remote locations, and are the most difficult and expensive to reach," said Graca Machel, founding VillageReach board member and Chair of the Foundation for Community Development. "It is thanks to the vision and support of our partners such as the Mozambican Ministry of Health who have shown impressive commitment towards improving their healthcare system, that we have seen such success to date."
Judja-Sato emphasized that more resources are needed to complete the five-year expansion plan and reach the $5.7 million goal.
About VillageReach VillageReach (www.villagereach.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving health and quality of life in the most remote areas of developing countries.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is building upon the unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century to improve equity in global health and learning. Led by Bill Gates’ father, William H. Gates Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an endowment of approximately $27 billion.
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