§ 13. Mr. HeppellTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action her Department has taken in respect of the immunisation of children in the Indian sub-continent since May 1997. [51332]
§ Clare ShortVaccine preventable diseases kill 9 million people every year. Immunisation programmes are the backbone of our efforts to meet the target of reducing by two-thirds the death rate of children under 5 years by 2015. In 1997, we committed £51 million to the polio eradication programme in India—the largest contribution to immunisation in developing countries Britain has ever made. We have also made new contributions to immunisation programmes in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, we are helping the Ministry of Health improve vaccination delivery to those displaced by conflict.