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The end of polio should be the Paralympic's legacy
 

The Paralympics are fast approaching and with 2.2 million tickets sold out of the 2.5 million available and with 165 countries competing, 19 more than in Beijing, it is set to be the biggest and most successful Paralympics yet.

One of the athletes hoping to take part is Anne Wafula-Strike, a phenomenal wheelchair sprint athlete and former member of team GB.  Anne was Born in Mihuu Kenya and came to the UK in April 2000, started racing in 2002 and in 2004 became the first ever Kenyan to represent her country in her chosen sport. Following a successful application for British citizenship in 2006, Anne became a member of Team GB.


Anne's story is an incredible inspiration, and shows how her drive, focus, talent and belief have helped her to break records and live out her sporting dreams on the greatest possible stage. However, her life was irrevocably changed at the age of two when she contracted polio.  This disability has not hindered her, and she has risen up to the challenge of paralysis to become an Olympic athlete. Unfortunately though, the same cannot be said for everyone who contracts this terrible disease.

In extreme cases, polio can cause paralysis in the limbs but can affect the lungs and make it difficult to breath, and in these without urgent medical care those affected can die. Polio can destroy a person’s life by preventing them from getting jobs or being able to start a family. 

Decades ago, polio was a real risk to thousands of children in the UK.  However, thanks to comprehensive immunization it is a thing of the past in the UK, proving that with the right funding and enough political will, we can prevent and eradicate polio. 

In the 1980s Rotary International had the vision to seek the end of polio once and for all.  They were the first to believe that children everywhere no longer needed to live their lives with a disability because of a disease we know how to prevent. Their campaign moved millions of people across the globe and inspired governments everywhere to give to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The success was phenomenal. Since 1988 the number of polio-endemic countries has reduced from 125 to just 3, and the number of polio cases has reduced by 99% , leaving only 1% left for us to tackle.

Progress so far has been made by ensuring that sufficient vaccines, which effectively prevent polio are available, as well as plenty of health workers and volunteers trained to deliver them. But these measures are expensive, and GPEI now needs at least $240m by January 2013 to just continue operating. Filling this funding gap is critical because having polio anywhere means we the threat of polio being everywhere. 

Ending polio means ensuring no child has to live a life of disability from a disease we know how to prevent.  but means that the tools and tactics that are developed to give polio vaccinations to children in some of the poorest urban slums, and some of the most remote rural regions will be available to use for other vaccination programs, leaving a positive global legacy beyond simply polio.

The UK has been a world leader in the fight against polio but our funding commitment ends this year.  As we head into autumn, we still don’t know if or when the government might announce further funding for GPEI and we don’t know how much is being considered.  Therefore we’re calling on people to email Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP and call on him to urgently confirm the UK’s future funding contribution in the battle against polio and to at least match 2012 levels of funding.

The Paralympics are a chance to admire the progress and achievement of amazing athletes from across the world, but it is also a chance to admire the amazing progress we have made in the fight to end polio.  As such we’re delighted to be partnering with Rotary International to support an English Garden Party event they are holding on Thursday the 30th of August to celebrate the opening of the Paralympics, and to meet with some of the participating athletes who have been afflicted by polio.

The event will act as an important moment to remember that despite the amazing achievements of so many Paralympians with polio, it is a disease that we know how to prevent no one need endure it in the future.  With only 1% of cases left, now is the time to act to end polio for good.
Posted by Sam Bacon in Global Health, Polio for column 1.4 Billion Reasons on Aug 29th 2012, 18:52
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A path for the Government to honour its promises

 

Today was the State Opening of Parliament and the Queen’s speech, the day the Government (who write the content of the speech for the Queen) outlines it’s legislative priorities and plans for the next session of parliament. The last parliamentary session from 2010 until just a few weeks ago was one of the longest ever, so speculation in the past few weeks has been rife about what might be included and what would be left out. Whilst the headlines from the speech will be about Lords Reform and the Economy, for those of us interested in international efforts to help support the worlds poorest it was the Government’s surprise reaffirmation of their support for the 0.7% target which was truly surprising.

We have been campaigning and blogging on the importance of the 0.7% target for some time, and thanks to you, our supporters and campaigners not only were we able to give a personal thanks to the most important politicians in UK international development, but we helped persuade the government to become the first government in UK history to achieve our 40 year old international pledge to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid.

However, in the past few weeks there have been a number of papers reporting that the Government would be distancing themselves at this Queen’s speech from their promise to put 0.7% into law. Along with an article in yesterday’s Times that said that the ring fencing of international development assistance would soon be removed, few of us passionate about the UK’s lifesaving aid had much hope for today’s statement.

Whilst today the Government did stop short of a commitment to legislate on the issue, the fact that the Government did mention of 0.7% in the Queen’s speech at all gives us a further opportunity to continue to hold the Government to account and to push for them to keep their promise and put 0.7 in law. The fact it was mentioned at all today is a testament to the hard work of you, our supporters and campaigners who have repeatedly shared with your communities your passion about helping the world’s poorest, and have made sure that our elected officials can’t forget the promises they have made.

As Elisha London, our UK country director has said:

“We fully welcome the Government’s surprise reaffirming of their commitment to the 0.7% aid target in today’s Queen’s speech. Given the Government’s clear promises to enshrine this target in law and the cross party support this enjoys, we look forward to seeing the legislation imminently in this session of Parliament.”

As we have talked about before, we know that when spent well aid can achieve amazing results; for example over the last 25 years, polio cases have been reduced by 99%. With countries such as Australia and Canada cutting their development assistance budgets and breaking their international promises, if we are to reach that final 1% and finally end the debilitating disease of polio, then the UK’s must keep it’s promises on 0.7%.

It is remarkable that this government will for the first time in UK history spend 0.7% of GNI on international development. However, to remove the issue entirely from short term domestic political interests we must use today’s mention in the Queen’s speech to push on and ensure the Government keeps it’s promises to the world’s poorest and puts 0.7 into law.

 

*image taken from BBC News website
Posted by Sam Bacon in Aid for column GPP - United Kingdom on May 9th 2012, 16:04
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Certainty is the way to effectiveness
 

(This has also been posted on Left Foot Forward)

There's been much talk today about a new report from the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs calling for the UK's target of spending 0.7% of GNI to be abandoned.

And as I have blogged about previously, and as the #powerofpoint7 hashtag demonstrates, there is much public support for the UK providing lifesaving aid, clearly showing this report to be out of step with much public opinion. But more than that, as Bill Gates, UNICEF UK President Lord Ashdown, Oxfam, Save the Children, the ONE Campaign, WaterAid, Christian Aid, World Vision UK and the VSO have already said - the calls from this report would not only endanger the lives of millions of the world's poorest people, but they are quite simply misleading and wrong.

Contrary to one of the report's primary assertions, the internationally agreed 0.7% target is not an arbitrary figure; according to the United Nations it is the figure needed to ensure that globally there is enough funding to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals and provide essential support for 1.4 billion people to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

Thanks to ONE's recent report, and a DFID statement after a recent Global Poverty Project campaign showing public support for the 0.7 target, we know that honouring our country's promises to the world's poor will mean:

  • Over the next few years more than 60 million children will be vaccinated against preventable diseases (more than the entire UK population);
  • Nearly 78 million people will be able to access the basics needed to start a business and get on the path of lifting themselves out of poverty;
  • With 99% eradication, Polio is now left in only three countries in the world and over the next few years our aid could help fund efforts to get it out of these countries and end polio and its debilitating effects for good.

These results are simply not achievable if as a country we follow the Committee's report and walk away from the international aid commitments we have made.

However, it's important to be clear; calling for a commitment to spend more on aid does not mean how it is spent or what it is spent on is a secondary consideration. Only when aid is spent effectively will it achieve real results and make a difference for millions of people. The report is quite simply wrong when it misguidedly suggests that the 0.7% target encourages a move away from a consideration of value for money and transparency in our aid spending. Quite simply we need both quantity AND quality in our efforts.

As Eric Gutierrez, Senior Governance Adviser for Christian Aid has made clear "In Scandinavian countries, where the 0.7% threshold has been achieved, the discussion has shifted away from how much to give, to focus instead on how well it could be used". Anyone who is interested in supporting the 1.4 billion people in extreme poverty as they work their way to a sustainable future is also deeply passionate about tackling corruption and increasing transparency in the aid and money that we give.

The most effective results in ending extreme poverty and helping save lives will come if NGOs and partners in the developing world know that our commitments will not waiver and funding streams will be maintained until the end of projects. Maintaining 0.7 allows this, and so helps us reach our ultimate goal of supporting people to a position out of extreme poverty and to be no longer in need of aid.

The chair of the Economic Affairs Committee has said that putting the 0.7% target in law, as all three mainstream political parties support,  "would deprive future governments of the flexibility to respond to changing circumstances at home and abroad", but it is exactly for this reason that all parties support it. Putting the target in law removes the politics from the issue of helping stabilise communities and save lives, and prevents short term domestic interests stopping our long term International commitments. To see the end of extreme poverty, this type of cross-party agreement on 0.7 is critical. Today's report was a backwards step in the process of giving a hand up, not a hand out, to the worlds poorest people.
Posted by Sam Bacon in Aid for column GPP - United Kingdom on Mar 29th 2012, 14:35
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21st March: A Day That Made A Difference
 

Yesterday was Budget day, the moment our ‘Protect Point Seven’ campaign had been building towards for the past few weeks. It was the day the Chancellor outlined his plans for the British economy and whether he would honour the UK’s international commitments to support the world’s poorest people by spending 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income on aid by 2013. We are absolutely delighted that despite the difficult media climate on aid over the past couple of months, the budget confirmed that the Government would honour the 0.7% target and with it, continue the UK’s efforts to provide aid to the 1.4billion people still living in extreme poverty.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve asked you, our supporters and campaigners, to help ensure that ahead of yesterday’s budget, politicians knew just how much support their was for international aid across the country. Hundreds of you wrote to your MPs and many tweeted at them to tell them how important aid is to you and how much support it has in your communities. Some of our Global Poverty Ambassadors started a facebook page that reached over 5,000 people and inspired over 350 people to send in pictures of them thanking all three major political parties for their commitment to 0.7. We even went to parliament to give a personal thank you to the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Ivan Lewis MP and Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP.

The incredible effort, amazing passion and inspiring activism our supporters have shown in telling decision makers that there is real public support for lifesaving aid for people in extreme poverty made a real difference to political opinions ahead of the budget. As Andrew Mitchell MP, the Secretary of State for International Development told us in our meeting, “This campaign is a powerful reminder that people across Britain understand that aid can make a real difference”.

The 0.7% target has cross party support and by including it in the budget, the Chancellor has now paved the way for the government to bring forth legislation to enshrine the 0.7% target in law, a policy agreed in the Coalition Agreement. It will also allow the UK to demonstrate important international leadership on global aid commitments and to press other countries to fulfil their own pledges. As Elisha London our UK Country Director said yesterday after the budget:

“We warmly welcome that the government has honoured their commitment to protect the target of spending 0.7% of UK GNI on International Development, the figure needed to fulfil our commitments to the Millennium Development Goals.

By keeping our country's promise to provide support to the world’s poorest people, the UK will continue to save lives and support communities across the world to sustainably move out of extreme poverty.

At this time of economic difficulty we thank the Chancellor for keeping our promise to those living in the most extreme kind of poverty, wherever they live."

With the aid budget confirmed DFID can now continue its commitments to vital lifesaving programmes which will deliver real results for people across the world living in extreme poverty. Funding can be provided for programmes such as the global polio eradication initiative, which with only four countries in the world left battling with this disease, has a real opportunity to eradicate Polio in our lifetime. It is these types of life changing initiatives that our aid will fund, something we can all celebrate.
Posted by Sam Bacon in Aid for column Success Stories on Mar 22nd 2012, 16:35
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Our Day of Thanks
 

Two weeks ago we wrote about the pressures facing the UK government in trying to keep its commitments to the world’s poorest in the forthcoming UK budget. Against a chorus of negative media articles about aid, we asked for people to take action to show that positive support for international aid does exist, and to contact their MPs to ensure they know how vital the UK’s commitment to the 0.7% aid target is to the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide. The response has been overwhelming.

Hundreds of people have responded and taken action online and in their communities. From tweeting their MP to writing letters, starting Facebook groups and getting out and spreading the word, our supporters and Global Poverty Ambassadors have energetically and passionately set about proving to decision makers in Westminster that the public support efforts to end extreme poverty, and do not want to see the good work of DFID cut.

Despite the recent negative headlines, our campaign has demonstrated that there is genuine public support for our country to keep it’s promises and meet the 0.7% target. And our work has been noticed. With our supporters doing such incredible work, we wanted to take this message even further. So on Tuesday the 6th of March, we took a group of campaigners and Global Poverty Ambassadors, to Westminster to say a big ‘thank you!’ to those MPs that despite negative media pressure have continue to stand up and fight to protect the UK’s commitment to the world’s poorest people. One of the Ambassadors who joined us, Claire Griffiths, has sent us her experience of the day:

“As a Global Poverty Project (GPP) Ambassador I was instantly inspired to act on the Protect Point 7 campaign that was launched by the GPP last month. With some fellow ambassadors, we quickly set about to spark off a large scale ‘facebook thank you’ to show the government how grateful we are for their continued support of the 0.7% target. We asked anyone we could find: our friends on facebook, our followers on twitter and the residents of our local communities. In turn they have asked their friends, their followers and the residents of their communities and the response has been amazing.

But it wasn’t enough to just show support online. Yesterday we took the overwhelming support we have received from the British public with us to Parliament. Sporting an impressive collage of over 90 photos we went talked with MPs and told them how thankful we were for their amazing work. The list of politicians willing to meet us was amazing. We were greeted by Baroness Jenkin, Co-Chair the Conservative Friends of International Development, ex-Shadow DFID Minister Mark Lazarowicz MP, and Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar MP who were all incredibly positive about our message of thanks, and told us how important our campaign was in convincing them that public support remained high.

But the highlight of the day was yet to come. Thanks to the amazing support people had given to our campaign, we were able to meet with the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Ivan Lewis MP and the Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell MP. It was inspirational to meet members of two different parties who were both working hard to abide by the UK’s promise of 0.7% regardless of differing political ideologies. Even more inspiring are the assurances given by each of these individuals that the international development agenda is certainly not being forgotten and is not deemed to be under threat despite increasing media pressure.

By the end of the morning I felt energised to carry on this campaign with more enthusiasm than ever. After our message of thanks, we left having been told by the two most senior Politicians in UK development, that there is a consensus around parliament that international development is vital, that the public are in support and that everyone involved in the GPP campaign are helping ensure we will make the UK's 0.7% commitment happen”.  
Posted by Sam Bacon in Aid for column Action Stories on Mar 7th 2012, 18:01
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