To mark World Pneumonia Day, 12 November, Ivan Lewis, MP for Bury South and shadow secretary of state for international development, travelled to Dhaka, Bangladesh, as part of a senior parliamentary delegation to see firsthand how UK aid to the developing world is helping to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people.
Ivan spent his time in the country visiting urban and rural hospitals as well as slum districts and speaking with UK officials; the Bangladeshi government and medics and organisations on the ground to assess the impact that UK aid is having. In particular, the group were looking at the work of the GAVI Alliance, a global public-private health partnership, who provide funding support to developing country governments to enable them to roll out life-saving vaccines.
Earlier this year, the UK government pledged an additional GBP 814 million to support GAVI, which has helped immunise 288 million children and saved an estimated five million lives since 2000. The organisation is looking to immunise more than 250 million children from 2011-2015 and save over 4 million additional lives.
Ivan was joined on the trip by Malcolm Bruce MP, chair of the select committee for international development; Jim Dobbin MP, chair of the APPG for global action against childhood pneumonia and Lord Sheikh, vice-chair of the Bangladesh APPG.
The UK is one of the biggest aid contributors to Bangladesh and this funding has helped to expand healthcare programmes and the country is looking to continue this by expanding its vaccine programme. In 2012 it is expected to apply for financial support to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine, which offers protection from one of the leading causes of pneumonia. Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children globally and since 2010, 16 GAVI-eligible countries have introduced the pneumococcal vaccine with the Alliance’s support.