What a year. The UK announced an historic pledge of £100million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which will help bring the world one step closer to eradicating polio for good. A new Secretary of State was appointed at DFID. Over 65 campaigners assembled in Parliament for a day of action to mark World Poverty Day. And world leaders included TB in the Communiqué’s section on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with a call for new ways to promote research and development.
These photos recall some of these moments and successes. We hope you enjoy them.
January
RESULTS launch a new policy briefing on the role of political will in driving country ownership over national immunisation programmes. Using Uganda as a case study, it explored the impact of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Immunisation in driving leadership on immunisation, which led to the passing of the National Immunisation Act in 2016. This law was designed to tackle immunisation inequities and ensure earmarked, sustainable, long-term financing for immunisation.
February
The Send My Friend to School campaign, which RESULTS house and are a part of, launch their 2017 campaign to call on the UK government to support education for the world’s poorest children. Over 3,000 schools and over 300,000 children across the UK joined the campaign throughout 2017.
March
RESULTS campaigners across the UK put on events to mark World TB Day on 24 March. Film screenings were organised in Brighton, Edinburgh, Linlithgow and Oxford. The Birmingham group organised a pub quiz that featured a round on TB, the Manchester group held a photography exhibition on TB in the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, and the Norwich group met with Alex Mayer MEP to talk about the growing threat of drug-resistant TB.
April
RESULTS leads a media delegation to northern Nigeria, the last country in Africa and one of three countries in the world where polio is still endemic. The trip coincided with a National Immunisation Campaign, which aimed to vaccinate every child under 5 from the disease, particularly those in hard-to-reach areas and in communities that had previously refrained from vaccinating their children for religious regions. The delegation helped generate two feature articles that were published in The Observer and The Atlantic.
May
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is elected by the assembly to be the new WHO Director-General (DG) at the 70th World Health Assembly – the annual get together to discuss and drive forward global health policy. A positive resolution on immunisation was passed at the Assembly , which had support from the UK delegation and strengthened commitments on immunisation in order to reach crucial goals. Find out more about what happened at this year’s Assembly here.
June
Over 80 campaigners come to London for RESULTS annual National Conference to explore why citizen activism is more important than ever. You can read more about this year’s conference here.
July
The world’s biggest economies assemble in Hamburg for the G20 Summit to discuss some of the most pressing global issues we are facing today. One of the most exciting outcomes was the inclusion of TB in the Communiqué’s section on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with a call for new ways to promote research and development – something we had been calling for throughout the year. Read our response to this annoucement here.
August
RESULTS leads a delegation of four parliamentarians, including three members of the Commons’ International Development Committee (IDC), to Liberia to see how the country is addressing major health challenges in the aftermath of the devastating Ebola outbreak. In Liberia, TB and increasingly drug-resistant TB, is an enormous strain on the health system. The delegation visited the only place in the entire country that treats drug-resistant TB and met people receiving treatment, including children.
September
The UK pledged £100 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, leading the world closer than ever to eradicating polio for good. This funding will help immunise 80 million children against polio each minute and fund 15,000 vaccinators. In the past 30 years, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has reached over 2.5 billion children, bringing life-saving vaccines to some of the hardest to reach places on earth. In 2016, there were 37 wild poliovirus cases in three countries—fewer cases of wild poliovirus than ever before.
October
MPs from opposite ends of the political spectrum joined Paralympic medallist and polio survivor, Ade Adepitan, in Trafalgar Square for a basketball match with members of the British Paralympic basketball team to celebrate UK leadership on polio eradication and highlight that the game’s not over yet. Check out our video from the event here.
November
$3.6 billion is pledged from philanthropic organisations, donors, high-burden countries and civil society at the Global Nutrition Summit in Milan. The UK announced that £280 million of its matched funds committed at the 2013 Nutrition for Growth summit would be unlocked.
December
Penny Mordaunt, the new Secretary of State for the Department for International Development, meets with Malala Yousafzai and Julia Gillard to call on the UK to make an ambitious pledge to the Global Partnership for Education. RESULTS campaigners will also be calling for this throughout December and the beginning of 2018.