The Rt Hon Justine Greening MP

Secretary of State for International Development

DfID

22 Whitehall

London

SW1E 2EG

Date: 15th December 2015

Dear Justine,

I am writing on behalf of constituents who would like to know what progress the Government has made to fulfil its promise to eradicate polio. 

You may well remember the paralysing effects polio had on children in this country right up until the 1980s.  Since then, health organisations have had massive success in pushing it back. India is now polio-free. Nigeria has not seen a case for over a year. And today, polio is on the run and exists only in pockets of Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

The UK has played a key role so far by pledging its support for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and now we need a further push to consign polio, just like smallpox, to the history books, once and for all. 

My constituents are asking that the Government not give up until we have got rid of polio everywhere. This is a preventable disease that causes such misery just because some cannot afford the vaccination privileges we have. 

I look forward to hearing what you have planned moving forward to ensure the UK leads on making the final push to eradicate polio.

Yours sincerely,