This month, our grassroots conference call was held on the very day that UK announced its financial support to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – some £400 million over three years. This is a fantastic result, and exactly what we have been calling for! A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us campaign for this investment, it really shows that positive, focused advocacy on issue you care about can really work.
We were particularly happy that the announcement came just hours before the dissolution of Parliament, which would have made it difficult or impossible to make policy announcements until after the General Election. Read our guidance about campaigning during an election period.
On the call we explored the importance of increasing global vaccination coverage via the UK’s support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Overall, the UK’s support for vaccinations saves a life every two minutes – and Gavi’s work does even more. Read our November action sheet and take action!
We were joined by Ted Elgar, Global Citizen’s Global Policy and Advocacy Manager for the UK. We work closely with organisations like Global Citizen in our advocacy on global poverty, including on health institutions such as Gavi. Ted talked us through the moral importance of funding Gavi, which saves so many lives which would otherwise be lost to diseases which can easily be prevented by vaccines costing very little.
Watch it back below:
You can learn more about how Gavi works on its very informative website.
Other resources shared on the call:
Video – Bill Gates describes the work that Gavi does.
Policy report – The importance of TB services for the achievement of universal health coverage.
Film screening – UnMasked – the journey of three South African doctors who contract multidrug resistant TB disease at work
Training event – Political advocacy training, 23 November, Sheffield.