The aim of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Global Action Against Childhood Pneumonia (APPG) is to raise awareness of the global disease burden of childhood pneumonia and to increase access to effective prevention and treatment interventions such as vaccines, effective use of antibiotics and education around the disease.

Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of child mortality worldwide, causing over 1.5 million child deaths each year.

Many of these deaths could be averted with the use of simple vaccines and effective treatments.  Without a concerted effort on behalf of the global community, pneumonia will continue to claim the lives of millions of children each year.

In support of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP, issued Nov. 2009 by WHO and UNICEF) the APPG aims to fight pneumonia by standing with other international organisations to;

1. Protect children with exclusive breastfeeding for six months, adequate nutrition, prevention of low-birth-weight, reductions of indoor air pollution, and increases in hand-washing
2. Prevent disease with vaccination against its causes: measles, pertussis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b, as well as preventing and treating HIV in children and providing zinc for children with diarrhea
3. Treat children with the right care and antibiotics in communities, health centers and hospitals

To see the full Mission Statement, please click here.

The group’s activities will complement the already extensive work undertaken by HM Treasury on the development of a pilot Advance Market Commitment for pneumococcal vaccines. The All-Party Parliamentary Group will run alongside Pneumo-Action – a programme based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA, and funded by the GAVI Alliance – and will work in tandem with the Pneumo Medical Advisory Panel , a panel comprising world-leading public health clinicians and immunologists.

For further information please contact info@appg-preventpneumo.org.uk