I think for some of you it might be the truth, you come and
visit my blog and think, “what again? Really Michelle are you sharing another
post asking us to sign up for something, give money or use our brains in a way
that might hurt, that might make us actually think? That might take us outside
of our comfort zone?”
Well yes I am and I get that you’re bored, at times I get
bored too but it does not mean I can stop. I feel absolutely compelled to do what
I can, to share the stories of the voiceless and to take a stand against
injustice. I’ve always protested that I’m just an average small-town girl, that
I’m nothing special and that I’m the same as you. But maybe I’m not, maybe I am
something special (not in my own steam you understand, anything I do or achieve
is through God) because I have accepted that I’m an activist. I see injustice
and I want to make it change. I don’t fool myself, I can’t do it alone and that
is why I regularly cry out to you, my readers, my friends for your help.
I think it is important that little treasures like this
young girl I met in Ethiopia get immunised. I know that in the developed world
people banter about inoculations and whether they want their kids to have the controversial
MMR or the new HPV vaccine but it is not the same in the developing world. A shot
here in the UK for tetanus or polio is completely different, we have herd immunity
as a country and a developed healthcare and sanitation system so disease does
not spread in the same manner.
But for millions of children, particularly in Africa and
Asia it is a very sad situation and their siblings and friends are dying daily.
Whilst I was in Washington, DC this past week at the #AYASummit I listened to a panel on
immunisations and how important it is for all children to be given the
reassurance of protection against the diseases that are rife in their country. GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private
partnership that helps to ensure that more children can access the vaccines
they need to stay healthy. Since its formation in 2000, GAVI has supported the
immunisation of 440 million children and has saved more than 6 million lives.
That is a pretty impressive statistic, isn’t it?
The time has now come for the next funding round for GAVI
and they need to raise $7.5billion dollars over the next five years so they can
support the immunisation of an additional 300 million children and save more
than 5 million additional lives. I think that is important, don't you?
As I sat in that summit and heard that America is the fourth
highest donor I had to wonder who the first was and then one of my colleagues
asked and my proud face shone. It is the UK, a tiny country but in caring for the world we are
a mighty force but that does not mean we can rest on our laurels and not worry.
It means we need to help press America and the White House to give more. They
are a much bigger country than us, they can dig deeper in their treasury
pocket. Don’t you think?
So will you please join with me to tweet –
“NO excuses @WhiteHouse Stop dragging your feet and replenish @gavi today! #vaccineswork #AYAaction”
Or even just retweet one of my tweets, follow the
link HERE
Or Instagram and make sure you include @Gavi @whitehouse and
#AYAaction please. Use the image below or use one of your child, it does not
matter but the numbers hitting the Whitehouse feed DO MATTER!
Or if you really care and I know some of you passionatley do, why don't you write a blog post for this and encourage your readers to take a stand as well. If you ask me (tweet, comment etc) I'll put together a short and easy to use media pack for you.
Then if you want to know more about GAVI and vaccinations check out the easy to read information on ONE.org. and while you are there sign the petition, it takes just moments and ONE are one of the best things to have happened to my life in the last couple of years.
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