22 May 2024
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper has joined the ranks of her fellow politicians to pledge her support for a campaign to eradicate maleria once and for all, writes Anna Shreeves.
Malaria No More (MNMUK) is the UK’s primary malaria charity and works to highlight the importance of British contributions to the fight against the disease, as well as campaigning for continued research.
Their ‘Finish The Job’ campaign has been touring around the UK, with its representatives meeting political figures to put pressure on the government to ‘finish the job’ and continue to be a part of the global effort to end malaria.
The campaign’s sixth event took place in St Albans on Friday, setting up their stall on St Peter’s Street in front of M&S.
Lydia Paynter, MNMUK’s advocacy campaigns manager said: “As Covid has shown us, if there is disease in one part of the world then none of us are safe.”
British science has always been at the forefront of the malaria fight; with the first vaccine developed in the UK.
However, according to Lydia, the Government is slowly decreasing funding given to The Global Fund and Gavi (vaccine alliance) who work together to wipe out this disease.
She said: “If the UK does not pledge the full amount to Gavi and the Global Fund then malaria prevention programmes will have to be stopped which then leads to more children getting sick from a disease which is preventable.”
Friday’s main event saw Daisy try her hand at the ‘Finish the Job’ alley can challenge – where she had to knock down as many cans as possible with a mini mosquito net.
She managed six, while the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Gregory Clayton Smith, knocked down eight; unfortunately, neither of them took the reigning champion, MSP Paul Sweeney, off of his Gold position.
Daisy Cooper said: “The Liberal Democrats are internationalists through and through and we are absolutely committed to reversing the Conservative cuts to the international aid budget.
“As well as doing that it is vital that we keep investing in British science because through British science we can make contributions to improve the health of people, not just in the UK but around the world.
“It is clear that with the right political action, we can end malaria in our lifetimes.”
Find out more at www.malarianomore.org.uk
