APPG Hosts UK Event for World Pneumonia Day 2010 to Fight the World's Leading Killer of Children Under Five

LONDON, November 15, 2010 - In support of World Pneumonia Day 2010, leaders in the fight
against pneumonia will gather in London on Tuesday 16 November for a
roundtable briefing from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Global
Action Against Childhood Pneumonia. The meeting will highlight the progress
made since the inaugural World Pneumonia Day in 2009; build on the recent
World Health Assembly resolution calling for 193 countries to put in place
pneumonia prevention, protection and treatment policies, which will save up
to one million children under five per year; and demonstrate the UK's
commitment to help meet the targets of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4.

Pneumonia kills more than 1.5 million children every year; one young life
every 20 seconds, making pneumonia the world's leading killer of children
under five. While pneumonia affects children and families everywhere, it has
the most deadly impact in the developing world, where over 98% of pneumonia
deaths occur. The tragedy is that pneumonia is both preventable and
treatable. According to the WHO and UNICEF in their 2009 Global Action Plan
for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP), up to 67% of deaths could be
avoided with simple interventions such as vaccinations and treatment with
low-cost antibiotics scaled up to 90% coverage.

Last November the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia launched the
first World Pneumonia Day, which was celebrated in 36 countries on six
continents. This year, the Coalition includes over 100 organisations from
around the world.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development,
Stephen O'Brien MP, will be speaking at the event. As well as representatives
from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI Alliance),
other partner organisations, and representatives from the Foreign and
Commonwealth, the High Commissioner of Sierra Leone will also be in
attendance at the APPG meeting in Westminster to provide an important
in-country perspective on pneumonia prevention and treatment.

"World Pneumonia Day provides a global platform to ensure that the
prevention and treatment of pneumonia is given the priority that it needs as
the world's biggest childhood killer," said Helen Evans, Interim CEO of the
GAVI Alliance. "Vaccines are used throughout most of the developed world to
protect children from this devastating disease; however, millions of children
in developing countries still lack access to these life-saving vaccines,
resulting in hundreds of thousands of child deaths each year which could be
prevented."

"Given the grave burden of childhood pneumonia on developing
nations, international partnership and action is key," said Professor Kate
O'Brien from Johns Hopkins University's International Vaccine Access Center
(IVAC). "We are delighted that the APPG and other UK partners are actively
supporting and engaged in the realisation of the goals of the GAPP. We urge
other wealthy nations to also prioritise and lead in the fight against
childhood pneumonia."

Jim Dobbin MP and Lord Avebury, co-Chairs of the APPG, also stated: "It
is important for the UK to be at the forefront of international measures to
help combat preventable and treatable diseases in the developing world. The
APPG has worked closely with the coalition government and welcomes the
commitment and leadership it has shown globally on this matter. The APPG
works with other governments across the developed world and is increasingly
lending advice and support to developing world governments and organisations.
The APPG welcomes the work of organisations such as GAVI, IVAC, Save the
Children, UNICEF and others and is committed to doing all it can to support
such efforts from the UK."

Notes to the editor

About the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia

The Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP)
was released on World Pneumonia Day last year by the World Health
Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. It outlined a six year plan for the worldwide
scale-up of a comprehensive set of interventions to control the disease.
Countries are urged to implement a three-pronged pneumonia control strategy
that:

    - protects children by promoting exclusive breastfeeding and
      ensuring adequate nutrition and good hygiene;
    - prevents the disease by vaccinating them against common causes of
      pneumonia such as Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcal disease) and
      Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib);
    - treats children at the community level and in clinics and
      hospitals through effective case management and with an appropriate
      course of antibiotics.

To download the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of
Pneumonia, visit
whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2009/WHO_FCH_CAH_NCH_09.04_eng.pdf.

About The Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia

The Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia and the World Pneumonia Day
Coalition was established in April 2009. It seeks to bring focus on pneumonia
as a public health issue and to prevent the millions of avoidable deaths from
pneumonia that occur each year. The coalition is grounded in a network of
international government, non-governmental and community-based organizations,
research and academic institutions, foundations, and individuals that have
united to bring much needed attention to pneumonia among donors, policy
makers, health care professionals, and the general public. Learn more at
www.worldpneumoniaday.org

About Millennium Development Goal 4

In September 2000, 189 world leaders met at the United Nations Millennium
Summit and agreed to meet eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
A milestone in international cooperation, these efforts to provide access to
basic human rights are improving the lives of hundreds of millions of people
worldwide. MDG 4 aims to reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the
under-five mortality rate. For more information on MDG 4 see
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_4_EN.pdf

For more information please visit:

    - World Pneumonia Day; worldpneumoniaday.org/
    - All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pneumococcal Disease
      Prevention in the Developing World;
      www.appg-preventpneumo.org.uk
    - GAVI Alliance; www.gavialliance.org/
    - IVAC: www.jhsph.edu/ivac

MEDIA CONTACT: Beth Williams, +44(0)207-462-8918, bwilliams at ruderfinn.co.uk