Letter from Parliament – Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

In my capacity as Vice Chairman of the Health Sub Committee, I recently spoke at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on the health and security of children in the developing world, to highlight the ongoing plight of the poorest and most neglected children in the world and the sheer numbers of needless deaths that occur each year.

Pneumonia is the leading disease cause of death in children worldwide. It kills an estimated 1.1 million children under the age of five years every year - more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined - and yet this goes almost unnoticed in our every day lives.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty but conveniently for us they die quietly in some of the poorest villages in the world, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world, as we look the other way.

In the Council of Europe I called on all member countries to adopt and implement the latest report from the WHO and UNICEF entitled, “The Integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea”. The aim of the report is to radically reduce deaths from pneumonia to fewer than three children per 1,000 live births, and deaths from diarrhoeal diseases, the two biggest killers of children worldwide, to less than one in 1,000 by 2025.

The WHO report provides a framework, designed to inform global and national programs and policies, for integrating efforts against these two child killers.

The work to combat disease in the developing world is coordinated and made possible by the outstanding contributions of global organisations like GAVI, PATH, CAFOD and Save the Children and is testament to the fact that we don’t simply ignore these children.

It is also testament to the commitment and budget contributions made by successive UK governments and the realisation that we no longer live in isolation but that disease in the developing world can threaten us all. Diseases do not recognise national boundaries and are not subject to border controls but can spread rapidly and fatally throughout the world in days.

What I have learned from many years of working on these issues is that polarised campaigns do not work. We need to work together for an integrated approach. I have worked hard with parliamentarians in a number of other countries building international coalitions for better healthcare outcomes, especially to reduce the impact on children.

I have spoken and worked with parliamentarians on visits to Bangladesh, Taiwan and South Africa, to push an integrated approach among national Governments.

We particularly need integrated approaches on sanitation and vaccination programmes. On a field visit to Kenya I was struck by two things, the dedication, professionalism and commitment of the hard working doctors and nurses to provide life-saving treatment in challenging conditions and the unhygienic conditions that were undermining the essential vaccination programmes. Bins were overflowing with used syringes and there was a severe lack of refrigeration facilities.

Global disease spread is an ever present risk and there are many ways in which an outbreak, even in a seemingly remote part of the world, can become truly global in a very short space of time. Increased ease of travel means that we cannot take for granted that we are safe from global infection. Getting it right in the developing world helps to prevent disease not only in those countries but also in the developed world as well.

This past week, I was the keynote speaker at the National Catholic Teachers Association in Manchester on politics and Christianity. It was an interesting session and an opportunity for me to keep in touch.

I also attended the AGM of the Rochdale and Oldham Samaritans and heard all about the great work these volunteers do to support and counsel individuals who are having personal problems.

In parliament I met with delegates from the Fire Brigade Union, including Heywood's Kevin Brown who is now a member of the national executive. They expressed real concern about the extent of coalition government cuts to the fire service which could put local people in danger. We will raise this important issue as a matter of urgency with the coalition government.