Today is the day when world leaders will really demonstrate their commitment to international aid. At the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations) summit, hosted by David Cameron and Bill Gates, leaders from around the world will pledge funds to ensure GAVI's work can continue.
The total cost of the work up to 2015 is £4.2bn and ahead of today's historic summit, there was a gap in this funding, of £2.3bn. This gap MUST be plugged, if we are to give children in poorer countries the start in life they deserve - the same start in life that we take for granted for our children in the UK.
I have heard a few people, including MPs and Ministers such as Liam Fox, criticise David Cameron for making a commitment to the UK's continuation of funding to GAVI.
They say: We do not have the money.
I say: What would you prioritise above stopping children from dying?
They say: Charity begins at home.
I say: This is not about charity it is about humanity.
So far today, Bill Gates, who we met yesterday, has personally pledged $1bn and David Cameron has promised $1.3bn from the UK.
More news later...
Updated:14:35
We were very lucky to be sat in the front row of the press conference to hear Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell and Bill Gates, announce the result of the GAVI Conference.
Amazingly, the target of $3.7bn was exceeded, with a total of $4.3bn pledged by countries around the world. This includes a pledge of $1.3bn from the UK and $1bn from the Gates Foundation. In fact, governments around the world more than doubled their previous commitments and new donating countries, included Japan and Brazil.
The developing countries also committed to maintain or increase their co-financing of their vaccine programmes. Getting the vaccines out to children in remote areas is now much more of a possibility, thanks to the work done here today.
It isn't often I praise David Cameron, but this is one issue that requires party politics to be checked at the door. Today, he promised that "Britain will play its full part and our support to GAVI will help vaccinate over 80 million children...That's one child vaccinated every two seconds for five years." For this, I must say he has done a great job.
Monday, 13 June 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
No Child Born to Die: My Mozamblogue Pt 3
On Monday 13th June 2011, David Cameron is hosting a summit of world leaders. This is a ground-breaking event, not your average conference on economics or trade. This summit actually has the potential to make an enormous difference, where leaders can actually save the lives of four-million children.
Diptheria, whooping cough and Tetanus are just three of the killer-diseases that children in the UK are routinely immunised against. We are fortunate to have easy access to a comprehensive programme of immunisations via our local clinic or GP's surgery. Even if our children do become ill, we do not need to worry about whether we can afford to have them treated. We can just turn up at the surgery and the GP will examine our offspring, reassure us and prescribe the drugs necessary to fight whatever infection they have picked up.
In poorer countries, healthcare is not so easily accessible, so if a child in a far-flung corner of a developing country picks up an infection, they are far more likely to die. And these children do die, from preventable diseases, every single day; over two-million of them, every single year.
In a country such as Mozambique, where one-in-ten children do not reach their fifth birthday, the work done by GAVI is essential. It is not only about getting the vaccines. Drug companies can produce them, albeit for a profit, and it was a welcome move when two of the biggest drug companies, Merck and Glaxosmithkline lowered the cost of the vaccines they produce, making them more affordable for countries in the developing world. This helps GAVI to direct funds to the other areas of the programme, costs that we may not realise are fundamental to the immunisation programme.
A campaign for food for malnourished children is easy to understand, a campaign for clothing and essential supplies in a disaster-struck area is obvious. For GAVI, the vaccines are just one element of their work. When I visited Mozambique earlier this month, I saw first hand, the vaccines being delivered and administered to babies who had been brought to outreach clinics by their mothers. Some had travelled over 40 kilometres and waited for over four hours to have their baby examined, weighed and immunised. These women knew the value of the vaccinations their babies were receiving, they had received the necessary information and advice, they were also, despite their long journeys and waiting, fortunate enough to have relatively accessible healthcare.
It was incredibly positive, I and the other Mums who had travelled with Save the Children, saw the system working well. Motorbikes and Outreach Workers, transporting the life-saving vaccines to remote areas, on bumpy roads and sandy tracks, taking healthcare to the villages with no transport or electricity. It is only through the dedication of these people, that the children we met can avoid becoming part of the statistic for infant mortality. A threat that is so real and so preventable.
GAVI (The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations) is the organisation that provides the practical programmes that take immunisations to those children who do not have easy access to them. One-in-five children in the world have no immunisations at all. A shocking statistic; unsurprisingly, these children are mostly those who are born in some of the world's poorest countries. GAVI's work is essential in reaching children in these countries, where healthcare is not something that can be taken for granted.
Diptheria, whooping cough and Tetanus are just three of the killer-diseases that children in the UK are routinely immunised against. We are fortunate to have easy access to a comprehensive programme of immunisations via our local clinic or GP's surgery. Even if our children do become ill, we do not need to worry about whether we can afford to have them treated. We can just turn up at the surgery and the GP will examine our offspring, reassure us and prescribe the drugs necessary to fight whatever infection they have picked up.
In poorer countries, healthcare is not so easily accessible, so if a child in a far-flung corner of a developing country picks up an infection, they are far more likely to die. And these children do die, from preventable diseases, every single day; over two-million of them, every single year.
In a country such as Mozambique, where one-in-ten children do not reach their fifth birthday, the work done by GAVI is essential. It is not only about getting the vaccines. Drug companies can produce them, albeit for a profit, and it was a welcome move when two of the biggest drug companies, Merck and Glaxosmithkline lowered the cost of the vaccines they produce, making them more affordable for countries in the developing world. This helps GAVI to direct funds to the other areas of the programme, costs that we may not realise are fundamental to the immunisation programme.
A campaign for food for malnourished children is easy to understand, a campaign for clothing and essential supplies in a disaster-struck area is obvious. For GAVI, the vaccines are just one element of their work. When I visited Mozambique earlier this month, I saw first hand, the vaccines being delivered and administered to babies who had been brought to outreach clinics by their mothers. Some had travelled over 40 kilometres and waited for over four hours to have their baby examined, weighed and immunised. These women knew the value of the vaccinations their babies were receiving, they had received the necessary information and advice, they were also, despite their long journeys and waiting, fortunate enough to have relatively accessible healthcare.
It was incredibly positive, I and the other Mums who had travelled with Save the Children, saw the system working well. Motorbikes and Outreach Workers, transporting the life-saving vaccines to remote areas, on bumpy roads and sandy tracks, taking healthcare to the villages with no transport or electricity. It is only through the dedication of these people, that the children we met can avoid becoming part of the statistic for infant mortality. A threat that is so real and so preventable.
Friday, 3 June 2011
Have Vaccines Will Travel. My Mozamblogue Part 2
As much as I have been here with the specific purpose of highlighting the incredible work that is done to make sure children in Mozambique receive their life-saving immunisations, I thought I sort of knew what to expect. How wrong I was. This is a compete journey of discovery in more ways than I imagined possible.
I knew there were remote areas in Mozambique, that was the point; follow the journey of a vaccine to a remote area, to the child that receives it. What I didn't consider, was just how remote an area is, when there is no regular or reliable public transport to connect it to the towns and cities. This means that a village, just a couple of hours away by car, is almost impossibly far, when there is no motorised transport and one is carrying a sick child. Yet this is what parents (usually mothers, as the men are often away working, if they can find a job) are faced with in the more distant communities.
At the district clinic, on the outskirts of Guija, I met women who had travelled for hours and hours, to make certain their babies received essential immunisations. They were absolutely reliant on the healthcare workers who work at the clinic and provide, not only essential medical care, but also education and information about hygiene, child nutrition and disease prevention.
This district healthcare clinic is the central repository for vaccines in the region. The vials are stored in fridges and must be strictly temperature controlled and kept between 2C and 8C. If they get too warm or too cold, they will be unusable. To get the vaccines out into the remote villages, they are transported in insulated boxes, by motorbike.
I met a Ministry of Health Outreach Worker, Amelia, who has the responsibility of transporting and administering the vaccines in these distant areas. We followed in our truck, as Amelia rode pillion on a motorbike, ridden by another healthcare worker. As they travelled, Amelia had to hold two boxes, one over each arm. The village we were visiting was only around half an hour away from the district centre, but some journeys can take four hours, on roads that are pitted with potholes and sandy tracks that are rugged and dangerous.
As we approached April 7th Village, (named after the date of Mozambique's National Women's Day) we saw a group of women, with babies, sat under a tree. This was the clinic. A beautiful, big tree, with wide-spread branches providing shade from the sun. Some of the women had travelled to the clinic from other, further afield villages, and had waited for almost four hours.
The first health worker began by addressing the group with a lesson on breast-feeding. The women sat, listened carefully and even answered in chorus, when questions were asked. They value every bit of education they can get, both for themselves and for their children. At the end of this session, the women clapped in appreciation and began lining up to have their babies weighed.
Such bonny babies, healthy and well-fed; a benefit of being close to a small town. I watched, played peek-a-boo and shared with mothers pictures of myown children, all at home on half term, probably driving their Dad to distraction. I stood among the women, who all love their children, just as much as I love mine and understood why some of them would travel and wait for hours and hours, to give their children the best chance of survival.
This is Dulsa Costa. She received the vaccine we have followed on this amazing journey. "Mr Vaccine". Make sure there are more children like her, who have a much better chance of surviving past their fifth birthday. Help us to make the voices of children like Dulsa, heard by world leaders. You can help right now with no more effort than a click of your mouse key and a few taps on your keyboard. No money, no effort. Sign the petition, please.
Doesn't every child deserve a healthy start in life? We can help to make sure they get it. Sign the petition, now. Don't think "I'll do it later," do it NOW. Please.
I knew there were remote areas in Mozambique, that was the point; follow the journey of a vaccine to a remote area, to the child that receives it. What I didn't consider, was just how remote an area is, when there is no regular or reliable public transport to connect it to the towns and cities. This means that a village, just a couple of hours away by car, is almost impossibly far, when there is no motorised transport and one is carrying a sick child. Yet this is what parents (usually mothers, as the men are often away working, if they can find a job) are faced with in the more distant communities.
At the district clinic, on the outskirts of Guija, I met women who had travelled for hours and hours, to make certain their babies received essential immunisations. They were absolutely reliant on the healthcare workers who work at the clinic and provide, not only essential medical care, but also education and information about hygiene, child nutrition and disease prevention.
This district healthcare clinic is the central repository for vaccines in the region. The vials are stored in fridges and must be strictly temperature controlled and kept between 2C and 8C. If they get too warm or too cold, they will be unusable. To get the vaccines out into the remote villages, they are transported in insulated boxes, by motorbike.
I met a Ministry of Health Outreach Worker, Amelia, who has the responsibility of transporting and administering the vaccines in these distant areas. We followed in our truck, as Amelia rode pillion on a motorbike, ridden by another healthcare worker. As they travelled, Amelia had to hold two boxes, one over each arm. The village we were visiting was only around half an hour away from the district centre, but some journeys can take four hours, on roads that are pitted with potholes and sandy tracks that are rugged and dangerous.
As we approached April 7th Village, (named after the date of Mozambique's National Women's Day) we saw a group of women, with babies, sat under a tree. This was the clinic. A beautiful, big tree, with wide-spread branches providing shade from the sun. Some of the women had travelled to the clinic from other, further afield villages, and had waited for almost four hours.
The first health worker began by addressing the group with a lesson on breast-feeding. The women sat, listened carefully and even answered in chorus, when questions were asked. They value every bit of education they can get, both for themselves and for their children. At the end of this session, the women clapped in appreciation and began lining up to have their babies weighed.Such bonny babies, healthy and well-fed; a benefit of being close to a small town. I watched, played peek-a-boo and shared with mothers pictures of myown children, all at home on half term, probably driving their Dad to distraction. I stood among the women, who all love their children, just as much as I love mine and understood why some of them would travel and wait for hours and hours, to give their children the best chance of survival.
This is Dulsa Costa. She received the vaccine we have followed on this amazing journey. "Mr Vaccine". Make sure there are more children like her, who have a much better chance of surviving past their fifth birthday. Help us to make the voices of children like Dulsa, heard by world leaders. You can help right now with no more effort than a click of your mouse key and a few taps on your keyboard. No money, no effort. Sign the petition, please. Doesn't every child deserve a healthy start in life? We can help to make sure they get it. Sign the petition, now. Don't think "I'll do it later," do it NOW. Please.
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