November 25, 2024, SEOUL, Republic of Korea – The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and the Government of the Republic of Rwanda signed a Host Country Agreement today in Kigali, establishing the IVI Africa Regional Office operations in Rwanda.

Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI, said: “We are excited to join the growing vaccine research and development ecosystem and biomanufacturing partners in Africa to build local, sustainable vaccine production capacity towards a goal of independent, continental health security. With our regional office based in Kigali, IVI will help forge new partnerships and advance capacity building in Africa. We are fortunate to have the support of the Government of Rwanda and look forward to deepening our partnership.”

On November 11, 2024, IVI announced the appointment of Dr Nicaise Ndembi as the inaugural Deputy Director General of IARO. Currently serving as Principal Advisor to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Director General and Deputy Incident Manager Mpox – Marburg Continental Preparedness and Response Plan for Africa, Dr Ndembi will assume his new role on January 1, 2025. Until the new year, Dr. Douglas Shaffer, IVI’s Deputy Director General of Global Affairs and Communications based in Nairobi, is acting as the interim Africa Regional Director.

Dr. Shaffer said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Government of Rwanda for facilitating a smooth and collaborative process in establishing IVI’s Africa Regional Office in Rwanda. As IVI’s focal point for the continent, this office will play a critical role in expanding IVI’s member base and engagements in addition to catalyzing regional collaborations across the vaccine ecosystem. We look forward to welcoming Dr Ndembi in the new year.”

Rwanda is home to BioNTech’s pioneering mRNA-based vaccine manufacturing site and hosts the newly launched African Medicines Agency, elevating the continent’s regulatory framework. With the addition of IVI’s Africa Regional Office, Rwanda will play a more integrated role in collaborating with global stakeholders across vaccine research and development from disease burden assessments to clinical trials.

Rwanda became a State Party of IVI on March 22, 2022. Following a detailed evaluation of proposals from five countries to host the IVI Africa Regional Office in early 2023, IVI’s Board of Trustees confirmed Rwanda as the final selection. IVI is headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea with a Europe Regional Office in Sweden and a Country Office in Austria.  In addition to the Regional Office in Kigali, IVI is in the process of opening a Country and Project Office in Kenya.

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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a non-profit international organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health.

IVI’s current portfolio includes vaccines at all stages of pre-clinical and clinical development for infectious diseases that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries, such as cholera, typhoid, chikungunya, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, hepatitis E, HPV, COVID-19, and more. IVI developed the world’s first low-cost oral cholera vaccine, pre-qualified by the World Health Organization (WHO), and developed a new-generation typhoid conjugate vaccine that also achieved WHO prequalification in early 2024.

IVI is headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea with a Europe Regional Office in Sweden, an Africa Regional Office in Rwanda, a Country Office in Austria, and a Country and Project Office in Kenya. IVI additionally co-founded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Global Health Institute in Hong Kong and hosts Collaborating Centers in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. 42 countries and the WHO are members of IVI, and the governments of the Republic of Korea, Sweden, India, Finland, Austria, and Thailand provide state funding. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int.

CONTACT

Aerie Em, Global Communications & Advocacy Manager
+82 2 881 1386 | aerie.em@www.ivi.int