Mr. Speaker, World Pneumonia Day was November 12. Every 20 seconds a child dies from pneumonia, a largely preventable and treatable disease. Pneumonia is the world's leading killer of children under the age of five, causing nearly 1.3 million child deaths each year. Developing countries and the poorest children within them are the hardest hit, accounting for 99% of childhood deaths from pneumonia.
I witnessed first-hand the devastating impact pneumonia can have on children and their families when I travelled with Results Canada to Tanzania this past February. There I met Daniel, a very young Masai child, hospitalized in a health care centre because of pneumonia, but Daniel was one of the lucky ones. He was being treated and on the road to recovery. The emotional burden and financial strain of having to hospitalize a child need not be a reality for families in Tanzania. With the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine, children like Daniel and thousands of others can be spared from this deadly disease.
I ask the government to continue to invest in the scale-up of the pneumococcal vaccine through effective global mechanisms such as the GAVI Alliance. The world's children depend on it.