Protecting children from infectious diseases
Exeter is home to groundbreaking and globally important health work being carried out by the University of Exeter’s Centre for Medical Mycology. I recently had the chance to highlight this work in Parliament, and to push for the UK’s continued role in protecting children around the world from infectious diseases.
On 15th May, MPs had the chance to discuss funding to Gavi and the Global Fund, in support of their efforts to immunise as many children as possible against the world’s deadliest diseases. Gavi’s vaccination programme has saved more than 18 million lives since its establishment 25 years ago.
Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty MP highlighted the economic benefits of global health initiatives, explaining that for every £1 of investment in immunisation programmes, we see £54 in wider economic benefits.
Investments in these programmes also drive innovation in the UK, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to promote the groundbreaking work of the Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter, which carries out world-leading research into deadly fungal diseases and develops vaccines for some of the most widespread causes of death and disablement in developing countries.
You can read my comments here and watch the debate here.
About the Centre for Medical Mycology
Funded by the Medical Research Council, the Centre for Medical Mycology is part of a small but crucial community of researchers working to better understand, prevent and treat fungal infections. We should all be incredibly proud of the science being done here in Exeter to save millions of lives around the world.
Neil Gow, Professor of Microbiology, Centre for Medical Mycology, explains: “Fungal infections are a big issue. Cumulatively fungal infections directly lead to more than 2.5 million deaths a year – more than those due to malaria, TB, HIV, and many cancers. However, the research community addressing this global emergency is small relative to those studying diseases caused by viruses, bacteria and parasites.
“Exeter University is the home of the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC-CMM) – the largest grouping in the world investigating the science, medicine and prevention of fungal infections. With nearly £60M in research funding in the last 6 years, and together with our hubs in Africa and Latin America, the MRC-CMM is pioneering research into the biology of fungal pathogens, antifungal treatments, diagnostics and immunology-inspired cures. Last year, for example, we published work that may lead to simple, cheap and safe relief for the 150 million women who suffer from recurrent episodes of thrush each year. This year we will launch a major new drug discovery effort working with chemists at the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit and GSK to tackle major fungal killers and drug-resistant species.”
The UK’s continued participation in Gavi and the Global Fund is not only the right thing to do, because it saves millions of lives around the world, but is also strategically and economically important. It supports growth here in the UK as well as overseas and helps us to deliver on our industrial strategy and national health goals.
