IVI and Sweden
Member State Relations
On 2 April 1997 Ambassador Peter Osvald, Permanent representative of Sweden to United Nations in New York, signed the IVI Establishment Agreement. On that same day, the government of Sweden ratified the Agreement.
State Funder
Since 2002, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has contributed annual program funding to IVI. Sida currently contributes approximately $1 million USD annually.
Swedish Leadership at IVI
The government of Sweden is represented on the IVI Board of Trustees by Dr. Catharina Maijgren Steffensson, Associate Director and Medical Director of Nordics Sarepta Therapeutics.
Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren, M.D., Ph.D. Professor, Founding Director, Center for Infectious Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet (2023-present)
Dr. Ros-Mari Bålöw (2017-2018)
Dr. Viveka Persson (2011-2016)
Prof. Ann-Mari Larsdotter Svennerholm (2008, 2010)
Prof. Ragnar Norrby (2004-2011, 2012)
Prof. Jan Holmgren (2001-2006)
Global Advisory Group of Experts
Anders Nordström, M.D. (Vice Chairperson) Ambassador for Global Health, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Ongoing Collaboration
Cholera Vaccine Development
IVI is co-developing DuoChol, a novel oral cholera vaccine in partnership with Prof. Jan Holmgren of the University of Gothenburg. What sets this oral cholera vaccine apart from existing vaccines is its dry formulation in capsule form that presents advantages including in storage, transport, and distribution.
Following GMP production and toxicity testing of DuoChol led by Gotovax AB/University of Gothenburg, IVI will complete an IND application for a Phase I clinical trial of DuoChol OCV in Sweden and begin a Phase I clinical trial in accordance with ICH Good Clinical Practice.
Alongside the clinical study of DuoChol, IVI is conducting an Uptake Likelihood Assessment in partnership with the WHO’s Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals unit. The study is co-funded by the Government of Sweden. The primary objectives are to determine country-specific immunization challenges relevant to the handling, distribution, and storage of cholera vaccine.
Uptake and Demand Assessment of a Potential Chikungunya Vaccine (UDAC)
The Government of Sweden is funding UDAC project, Initiated jointly by IVI and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2022. The project aims to estimate the disease burden of chikungunya at global, regional and national levels. In December 2023, IVI convened the first Chikungunya Global Stakeholder Meeting in Panama in partnership with Gorgas Institute, bringing together stakeholders across government, research and development, and industry to map a comprehensive landscape of the problem of chikungunya and to advocate for the recognition, approval and support of a global chikungunya vaccine agenda.
EdJen BioTech COVID-19 vaccine development
The Swedish Government is a co-funder to IVI-led COVID-19 vaccine development project, where IVI has been working with the Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic to advance the development of an affordable, rapidly produced, temperature-stable peptide-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that is readily deployable in low- and middle-income countries.
In 2024, with support from IVI, the selected optimized vaccines were produced and tested with adjuvants in small animal models to assess T-cell and B-cell responses. The IVI laboratories in Seoul additionally tested preclinical samples, confirming the satisfactory T-cell response and suboptimal B-cell response with LMQ adjuvant.
Shigella surveillance study in Nepal
The Government of Sweden is a funder for IVI-led prospective surveillance study to estimate the burden of shigellosis in children under five years of age in Nepal. This study is being conducted at three sites across Nepal. The results of this study will help inform decision making of funders, public health officials, and policymakers to accelerate the development of new vaccines and other effective interventions for shigellosis as well as provide baseline data for future vaccine clinical trials in Nepal.
Mozambique Typhoid Fever Surveillance
The Government of Sweden is co-funding The Mozambique Typhoid Fever Surveillance (MOTiF) project. The aim of the project is to evaluate the burden of typhoid fever in the country, aiming to provide decision-makers with evidence to support the introduction of typhoid conjugate vaccines. Some surveillance activities concluded in 2024, and other surveillance continues in 2025.
Vaccine against Schistosomiasis for Africa (VASA)
University of Gothenburg in Sweden is one of collaborators in IVI’s VASA project, focusing on seroprevalence and disease burden study in Madagascar and Burkina Faso to understand the current disease burden and evaluate the age of exposure to schistosoma. This information will help inform vaccine development and guide control measures.
Enhanced surveillance and vaccine effectiveness for Japanese encephalitis in Indonesia
With co-funding support from the Government of Sweden, IVI has been conducting a six-year surveillance study in Bali to evaluate the effectiveness of the live attenuated Japanese encephalitis vaccine CD-JEV. In 2024, a training session and a workshop were organized locally to enhance the data collection process. Data quality control checks are ongoing, and work is underway to merge datasets with vaccine efficacy variables to address existing research gaps.
Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) Vaccine & Immunotherapy
The aim of the CCHFV project is to address the serious public health threat posed by CCHFV, a tick-borne zoonotic virus that causes fatal epidemics in humans. The project, where IVI is one of the partners, is conducted in collaboration with Public Health Agency in Sweden and co-funded by the European Union.