UK Government Given a Clear Vision

The UK Government was put under pressure last week to lend its support to a campaign aimed at decreasing the mortality rate of children in developing countries.

A petition, containing 1.3 million signatures, was handed to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last week by representatives of World Vision International, a worldwide relief organisation. Those behind the heavily supported petition are urging the UK Government to uphold promises made in the past to provide strong leadership and financial support to those involved in the daily fight against child mortality. Kate Eardley, a representative from World Vision UK, explains why government involvement is so vital: ‘For the first time developing countries have made their own time-bound commitments to improve maternal and child health, and it is the role of the UK Government to provide promised additional funding to these countries… that [support]  will save millions of lives.’

The CEO of World Vision International, Kevin Jenkins, appeared at the recent Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit alongside the UN Secretary-General, in order to launch the new Global Strategy aimed at dramatically improving the health of women and children in developing countries. Mr. Jenkins called for an international commitment of $88 billion, as well as asking for added  support from the world’s leaders.

Frances Charles, from the World Vision UK Giving Team believes that the support of the world’s leading governments is absolutely essential to the success of the project. ‘We’re not asking the UK Government to suddenly give 50% of tax to the campaign, we are only asking for 0.17% of the country’s Gross National Income,’ she said. ‘This is essentially pittance, but if every country promised that they would do it and then actually did it, the result would be absolutely extraordinary.’

It would appear as though this priniple is finally starting to have an impact on the world’s most prominent leaders, with both Nick Clegg and Barack Obama last week pledging their support to the cause. With the backing of such influential political powers, we can only hope that it will be a mere matter of days before others fall in line.