I have been following a couple of a lister parenting bloggers who this past week got to go to Ghana with Comic Relief and see some of the projects that they are investing in as it is incredibly 25 years since Comic Relief started!  It has been a mad couple of days on twitter and im sure for those bloggers that went, probably life changing.

I was very interested in their visit to a clinic to see some of the amazing differences some very basic vaccines can make to the life of the children and the community.

It has always, always bothered me that drugs and vaccines in particular are sometimes restricted to the ‘richer’ parts of the world. Not the massively sophisticated drugs…just the basics..you know diptheria, polio, stuff that we havent seen on these shores for decades and decades.

But you know that horrid vomiting bug we all fear every year….that gives us wobbly legs and 24 hours of calling huey. Well in Ghana something similar is the cause of 10% of all death in under 5’s.  TEN PERCENT!! and its just a vomiting bug. Something that the majority of our kids will curl up on the sofa, surrounded by buckets and dvd’s while their healthy immune system goes to work.

So Comic Relief fund the project that gives these babies a vaccine against this virus and GAVI estimate that it has the potential to save a potential 2.4 million lives.

We use a drug in Neonates that since its use has changed the gestation at which we can save a baby. Thats not flippant either, you ask anyone who knows anything about premature babies and they will tell you the name of it. It is THAT significant in giving our tiniest patients better odds of survival. That drug is £500 a vial! A VIAL!!! Generally we use 2 per baby depending on their condition and gestation. You ask any parent of a NICU baby if they would pay that to save their child’s life. yeah..you know it…

These vaccines that are being used in Ghana are not expensive. As mums, we know what we would give to save our kids. Lets stand in the gap for those mums who want to but can’t.

Thats got to be worth a red nose? right?