Esther, William and I were on the local news tonight, ITV Meridian, talking about immunisations and MMR in particular. There has been a significant rise in the number of measles cases in the South East and many children are at risk because they have not been immunised against this highly contagious disease.

Immunisations are not nice for babies and worse I think for their mothers! But they are important. It was thought that measles was more or less eradicated from this country but when people started avoiding the injection against this disease the disease has started fighting its way back. We are lucky in the UK that our children are immunised against illness and disease for free. We should realise how lucky we are to have this researched, resourced and funded service available to us.

When Esther and William were in NICU they were pricked with needles every day for 59 days whether to take blood or receive medicine. It was awful to watch as their Mummy but I know that these procedures helped to keep them alive. Having been through such a rough start to life I now feel that I have to do everything in my power to protect them and ensure that Esther and William do not have to go through anything like that again. As part of this I have breastfed the twins as much as I can, I keep them under lock and key through cold and flu season despite being isolated myself and I ensure that their immunisations are kept up to date.

It is not so easy for every mother to protect their child’s life. In the poorest countries, children are dying, at a rate too awful to think about. Basic illnesses claim 8 million young lives a year. It’s in our power to stop this. No child is born to die.

Save The Children are campaigning to help save 4 million lives in 4 hours at the global vaccines summit in June. They only have one month left to build up public pressure on world leaders and decision makers. We can help. By using our blogs, our tweets, Facebook and old fashioned word of mouth to spread the news of the Save the Children petition

P.S. In the build-up to the conference, there will be some live blogging from our vaccines projects overseas.
Please join us between 30 May and 5 June to take part at http://www.facebook.com/savethechildrenukCampaigning really does work. Following hundreds of letters from our supporters, free healthcare was introduced in Sierra Leone on 27 April 2010.

Please take time (30 seconds) to visit Save the Children, read about the campaign and complete the online petiiton. Help to save a life and give a child a chance to shine.

And then pass the message on. Lets all do our bit, play our part and give a child a chance to grow. I will be forever grateful that the doctors and nurses here had faith in mine x

No Child is Born to Die!

Pass it on!

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