Why now?
 
World leaders are meeting in London on June 13 to decide whether to fully-fund The GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization), the partnership that funds the development and distribution of cost-effective vaccines in the developing world. As they make their decisions on funding, they need to hear from us. We are working to obtain 500,000 signatures on the petition, while raising awareness of this important event around the globe.
 
In the West, a nuisance; in poor countries, a death sentence
 
In the West, diarrhea in children is a nuisance; in poor countries it is often a death sentence. In fact, roughly one of every three child deaths worldwide—a total of nearly 3 million each year—is caused by pneumonia or diarrhea. More children die from these two diseases than from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
 
The good news is we now have two new vaccines that can prevent these deaths IF we can get them to the children in the developing world whoneed them. Bill Gates has called vaccines the “best buy in public health” because they are the most cost-effective way to give kids a healthy start in life and a lifetime of protection.