APPG changes its name to reflect new, broader focus (26 Jan 2010)

At the Group's Annual General Meeting on January 26th 2010 members voted unanimously to change the name of the Group. This change reflects an expansion of the Group's focus to all causes of childhood pneumonia, the leading global killer of children under 5 years of age.

Since 2007, the Group has focused on pneumococcal disease, the leading, but not only, cause of childhood pneumonia. The Group will also expand its activities to increase awareness of pneumonia overall, proven treatments and opportunities for prevention.

The Group's widened remit will include highlighting and working to implement the following key interventions for controlling childhood pneumonia, as outlined in the WHO/UNICEF Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP):

• Protect children by providing an environment where they are at low risk of pneumonia
• Prevent children becoming ill with pneumonia
• Treat children who become ill with pneumonia

The Group decided to make their broadened focus official after helping to organise and host the inaugural UK World Pneumonia Day event at the House of Commons on the 2nd of November 2009. This event brought together support from the UK Government and opposition parties, High Commissioners and Ambassadors and NGOs for reducing the devastating impact of childhood pneumonia, particularly in the developing world.

Dr Des Turner MP, Chair of the APPG, said: "The APPG's change of name marks the Group's important transition towards tackling all causes of pneumonia in the developing world. We have spent the last two years working globally to highlight the scourge of pneumococcal disease and now we want to broaden this focus to help reinforce the global effort to tackle pneumonia, which claims the lives of approximately 1.5 million children each year.

"In 2010 we will continue our work to highlight the global disease burden of pneumonia and work with organisations such as the GAVI Alliance and the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University to encourage developing world governments to implement pneumonia prevention and treatment strategies."

Dr Turner said the Group would remain focused on making sure the Government maintains their UK donor commitments and will encourage other donor nations to continue their commitments also.