On Wednesday night, Save the Children hosted the Pneumonia Campaign launch in Parliament, with both the Secretary of State for International Development and the Shadow Secretary of State in attendance. They were also joined by around 15-20 MPs and Lords from all the main parties, along with representatives from GSK, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, and DFID.

Stephen Twigg MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, helped kick off the evening by introducing the report, highlighting the need for action and thanking Save the Children for beginning what he saw as a global effort to combat the disease. Professor Harry Campbell then helped to demonstrate the relative lack of understanding and publicity surrounding pneumonia, which in turn leads to a lack of alliances and funding to help fight it.

The keynote speaker, the Secretary of State for International Development Priti Patel MP endorsed many of our asks and seemed to engage with the issue in a genuine, unscripted way which feels like a massive endorsement of the approach so far, but also of the increasingly strong relationship between SCUK and her team. Both her and DFID have been merrily tweeting about the launch this morning.

 But the highlight of the night was Kevin and Priti Patel’s discussion with Jedidiah, a Save the Children health worker in Kenya, live via Skype. Her description of what it is like to treat, often without success, a child affected by pneumonia, knowing that their suffering is preventable, is the most powerful type of advocacy we have.

Save the Children used this event to trial having a greater diversity of staff in attendance. They were very grateful that a number of Save the Children champions attended, with one champ, Christina, leading a short exercise for the room. It was also great to have so many of their Country Directors, who were over in the UK for their induction, mingling with guests.

Here’s a bit more about how you can get involved:

Sign and share the handraiser

• Please join the fight against pneumonia by signing here and sharing it e.g. Pneumonia kills more children than any other disease. Join @savechildrenuk’s campaign #FightingForBreath http://save.tc/BpfY30ggVC3

Watch

• Watch, share (and be shocked by) this short film #FightingforBreath (or on youtube)
• Watch and be inspired by this film about Save the Children health worker Jedidah

Tweet the report

• Children are #FightingforBreath but we can end pneumonia deaths says @savechildrenuk’s new report http://save.tc/Uh9v30giEbe
• Stopping 5m child deaths from pneumonia can be done with political will says @savechildrenuk #FightingforBreath http://save.tc/Uh9v30giEbe
• We can stop children #FightingforBreath through #InvestinNutrition #vaccineswork and #UHC #HealthforAll http://save.tc/Uh9v30giEbe
• Nearly 1m child pneumonia deaths annually thanks to inequalities says @savechildrenuk #FightingforBreath http://save.tc/Uh9v30giEbe