Gordon Brown budget affirms commitment to AMCs

Gordon Brown, the UK Finance Minister, presented his tenth annual budget today. It included a strong commitment to Advance Market Commitments. From Chapter 5 of the report:

5.141 Healthy populations are key to growth and poverty reduction. To underpin progress against all of the MDGs, donors need to support countries that wish to invest in strengthening health systems and making them responsive to poor people. As outlined in From commitment to action: health, the UK stands ready to assist countries that wish to eliminate user fees and make services free at the point of delivery. The UK is also taking significant action on prevention and treatment for diseases that primarily affect poor countries and is working with the G8 to develop an Advance Market Commitment (AMC). At the February G8 meeting in Moscow it was agreed that Ministers would consider a specific proposal at their next meeting. The Gleneagles G8 communiqué also committed countries to supporting as close as possible to universal access to HIV treatment by 2010, through mechanisms such as the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and malaria.

Box 5.5: Advanced market commitments (AMCs)The UK is exploring the use of AMCs to stimulate the research and development of vaccines against diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB and pneumococcus, which kill millions in developing countries each year. At present the resources invested in finding vaccines against these diseases – especially by the private sector – are minimal when compared to the scale of the challenge because markets for vaccines in developing countries are too small to justify the huge investment required to bring an effective vaccine to the point of sale. An AMC works by creating a market where one is currently missing. Rich countriesunderwrite a market for vaccines, subject to them meeting pre-defined standards of efficacy against a particular disease and subject to demand from developing countries. When the vaccine is in demand from developing countries, rich countries fulfil their commitment to buy, thereby ensuring that it is widely accessible. The UK is also a strong supporter of direct funding for research efforts being undertaken around the world, such as the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.