Earlier this week, the Chair of the APPG Vaccinations for All and over 40 UK parliamentarians wrote to the Secretary of State and Minister of State at the Department for International Development in order to show support for a UK pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Full text of letter:
We are writing to you to express our support for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and to encourage the UK Government to continue its contribution to polio eradication at their upcoming pledging moment in November.
Polio is a terrible virus which causes paralysis and death and, as there is no cure, the only way to beat it is through successful vaccination. If the world is successful in its mission, this will be the second disease to be eradicated from the planet, after smallpox. Eradicating the final cases of wild polio from the world is not a simple task but the GPEI has successfully reduced cases of polio by 99.9% since it was formed in 1988. GPEI has reduced the number of wild polio cases from 350,000 each year, in 125 countries, to just 33 cases across two countries; Afghanistan and Pakistan. Saving over 18 million people from paralysis or death has involved 20 million volunteers immunising 2.5 billion children with the oral vaccine in 200 countries.
The UK has been a leader in this fight and, thanks to UK aid, 1.6 million people are walking who could have been left paralysed. However, many of the most vulnerable children, particularly in war-torn or fragile countries, continue to face the risk of paralysis due to polio. Ensuring every last case of the wild polio virus is eradicated is essential, as whilst one child is infected with wild polio, children everywhere remain at risk. The GPEI’s strategy, for 2019-2023, sets out a clear plan to address the challenges that remain in achieving polio eradication. Due to the provision of gut immunity, which prevents person to person transmission, their oral vaccination programme is the only mechanism by which to achieve the eradication of wild polio once and for all.
As well as helping fulfil the UK’s ‘Leave No One Behind’ commitment and, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, eradication will save up to US$50 billion globally by averting treatment costs and increasing the economic activity, success and productivity of low- and middle-income countries. We applaud the UK Government’s early commitment of £1.4 billion to the Global Fund to fight TB, AIDS and Malaria. However, we, the members of the APPG on Vaccinations for All, support calls from Rotarians and campaigners across civil society for the UK to pledge £400 million to the GPEI to deliver on its new strategy and ensure no child is left behind.
The eradication of polio is close but the final few stages will be the hardest. It is imperative that the UK continues to lead from the front on this critical global issue and helps deliver a polio-free world.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Philippa Whitford MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vaccinations for All
and
- Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP
- Gillian Keegan MP
- Stephen Twigg MP
- Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP
- Bambos Charalambous MP
- Baroness Sheehan
- Jeremy Lefroy MP
- Lord Bird
- Lord Collins of Highbury
- Christian Matheson MP
- Sarah Champion MP
- Nigel Evans MP
- Rt Hon Baroness Blackstone
- Maggie Throup MP
- Lord Oates
- Dr Lisa Cameron MP
- Alex Chalk MP
- Baroness Masham of Ilton
- Nic Dakin MP
- Stephen Gethins MP
- Lady Hermon MP
- Helen Hayes MP
- Ruth Jones MP
- Kate Osamor MP
- Kelvin Hopkins MP
- Bill Grant MP
- Jim Fitzpatrick MP
- Lord Rennard
- Virendra Sharma MP
- Tom Brake MP
- Rt Hon Baroness Hayman
- Jim Shannon MP
- Ian Austin MP
- Jessica Morden MP
- Caroline Lucas MP
- Paul Farrelly MP
- Rt Hon Stephen Crabb MP
- Chris Green MP
- David Linden MP
- Mike Gapes MP
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