Dear Constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about preventing child deaths.

I'm pleased by the Secretary of State for International Development's announcement that the UK will step up efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children in the developing world by 2030.

Gavi’s mission to save children’s lives by increasing equitable use of vaccines is directly aligned to the UK’s ambition, under Sustainable Development Goal 3, to end preventable deaths of new-born babies and children. The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, committing £1.44 billion between 2016 and 2020. This support will vaccinate 76 million additional children by 2020, saving 1.4 million lives from vaccine-preventable diseases in 68 of the world’s poorest countries. The UK will host the pledging conference for Gavi in June 2020.

DFID support to Gavi includes a wider package of health care support designed to strengthen and integrate services. Immunisation is often a child’s first point of contact with their health service. It creates an opportunity where malnourished children can be identified and treated. Vaccines can also prevent some of the infectious diseases and causes of malnutrition.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Yours,

EDWARD LEIGH MP