Every year, World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive change. It pushes for individuals to think about the way they consume; for businesses to develop greener models; for farmers and manufacturers to produce more sustainably; for governments to invest in repairing the environment; for educators to inspire students to take action; and for youth to build a greener future.

At IVI, we’re driven by a mission to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from vaccine-preventable diseases and equally committed to carrying out our work and research while doing as little harm to the environment as possible.

For World Environment Day 2021, IVI’s Ecommittee, a sub-group of IVI’s Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Committee, planned several activities to encourage green education and action at headquarters and partnered up with our collaborators at project sites around the world to celebrate this year’s theme: Ecosystem Restoration.

Planting new seeds with our partners

In a symbolic gesture to this year’s campaign theme—Ecosystem Restoration—IVI invited our collaborators at project sites around the world to join us in planting trees and organizing community clean-ups. We’re very grateful to our partners for our ongoing research collaborations to study, prevent, and eliminate infectious diseases, and thrilled to share their World Environment Day activities.

Polesgo, Burkina Faso

Our collaborators from the primary health facility of Polesgo, Burkina Faso joined IVI in planting a young tree on their grounds. Polesgo is one of the recruiting centers for IVI’s Seta Plus project which launched in 2015 to study the epidemiological and economic impacts of typhoid in African settings to ultimately pave the way for future Gavi-supported vaccine introductions.

Many thanks to our long-time collaborators Lady Nana Wandji and Enoch G. Cakpofor organizing this tree-planting ceremony and sharing these photos with us.

Andina and Antananarivo, Madagascar

Our long-time colleague Professor Raphael Rakotozandrindrainy and his team planted coffee plants at two locations. First, at a health care center in Andina, Professor Raphael’s hometown, a rural community in central Madagascar and home to IVI’s SOMA project.

Through SOMA (or, Schistosomiasis in Madagascar), IVI collaborated with the University of Antananarivo to reduce the intensity and prevalence of Schistosomiasis infection for at-risk populations in the Ambositra District of Madagascar. More recently, IVI initiated the COVIA project in this same region to support local institutions in detecting COVID-19.

In the country’s capital, coffee plants were also planted next to the laboratory at the University of Antananarivo. The team pictured below are collaborators of many of IVI’s projects, spanning epidemiology and vaccine research for a range of pressing infectious diseases including typhoid, schistosomiasis, and COVID-19.

These coffee plants should thrive upwards of 50 years and, in addition to adding a splash of green to the campus, will reach maturity around year 5, allowing the beans to become a new source of income.

Hwidiem, Ghana

Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo and his team at the School of Public Health, Kwama Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, conducted a clean-up campaign in Hwidiem, a small town in the Ashanti region of Ghana. This community is part of the catchment area of IVI’s SETA Plus project and will also be engaged for recruitment for an upcoming typhoid vaccination campaign as part of the THECA project.

IVI Headquarters, Seoul, Korea

IVI’s Ecommittee planted two crape myrtle trees at the entrance to IVI Headquarters. Lagerstroemia—commonly known as crape myrtle—are known for their colorful and long-lasting flowers, blooming in the summer.

“Climate change is a health issue”: Guest lecture at IVI

In recognition of World Environment Day, we were also pleased to welcome Susan Wilburn, International Sustainability Director of Health Care Without Harm, to give a guest lecture to IVI staff. As an occupational and environmental health specialist with a focus in nursing, public health, and epidemiology, Wilburn collaborates with the UNDP, WHO, and UN Environment on Sustainable Procurement to transform the health sector worldwide without compromising patient safety or care so that it becomes ecologically sustainable and a leading advocate for environmental health and justice.

Going green at IVI: Tips for HQ and home offices

In an effort to encourage environmental mindfulness in our operations as well as our day-to-day activities, IVI’s Ecommitte developed 8 tips to reduce individual waste and energy. Check out our tips below, and see how many you can put to use in your own office!