On October 11, Co-chair Ban Ki-moon delivered an opening remark at the IVI State Forum 2019 and congratulated IVI’s 22nd anniversary.

“One of the main arguments for the SDGs is that all people from the world should not die unnecessarily from preventable diseases.” — Ban Ki-moon

International Vaccine Institute(IVI) hosted the forum at Seoul National University, Korea, to introduce the achievements of IVI and provide a dialogue on development and distribution of vaccines to developing countries. 

Co-chair Ban said,

“We need to cooperate in developing and distributing vaccines to achieve the world health and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)…[because] International community simply cannot fulfill its pledge to ‘Leave No One Behind‘ and achieve the SDGs unless it hits its public health target in SDG 3 to ensure healthy life and common wellbeing for all ages.”

Talking about the importance of vaccination, he also said:

“I think health is the most important one. Just look at the SDG 1, SDG 2,SDG 3: poverty eradication, food security, and health. If we meet these three Goals, we may not need to sit here at IVI today. This is why we need to make sure that every enjoys health and particularly preventive diseases. 

Co-chair Ban Ki-moon concluded the remark by saying:

“Immunization is the key not only in achieving SDG 3 but also catalyzing many of other SDGs related to hunger, gender equality, education, clean water, and sanitation.”

© IVI, Yonhap