Archive for January, 2011
Earlier today, Brooke Riley and I went all the way to the Big Apple from our nation’s capital to attend the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s huge polio event, “Polio Eradication and the Power of Vaccines.” Not only did we get to attend the event, we also had the opportunity to speak with some of the panelists about the disease: Dr. Peter Salk, son of polio vaccine founder Dr. Jonas Salk; Mr. James Roosevelt Jr., grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who contracted polio at age 39); and Dr. David Oshinsky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Polio: An American Story.”
Although these amazing individuals offered very unique perspectives to the story of polio, their mission to end the disease is the same. Read on to find out what they had to say:
Mr. James Roosevelt, Jr.
“My grandfather [FDR] was living in this house [the Roosevelt House where the event was located] when he was learning first to crawl again and then to walk again because of polio. And I grew up in the era when we were terrified as children to go to movie theaters in the summer, to go to swimming pools in the summer. And then the work of the March of Dimes that my grandfather founded brought about the discovery of these vaccines that could not just prevent but completely eradicate polio. And we’re now down to four countries in the world [where polio cases still exist], so we still have danger as long as it exists at all.”
Dr. Peter Salk
“[My father Dr. Salk] was very busy and often absent for trips. He would go to work early in the morning and come back late at night. It was a period when we lived outside of Pittsburgh and he would drive me to school in the morning, so we would have that time together in the car. Having the example of what he had done in his life made it feel as though it would be an important thing to continue on that kind of endeavor.”
“To be able to pursue this effort this effort to eradicate this second disease – smallpox being the first, and now polio – that’s going to be a boost to our confidence of being able to do much more.”
Dr. David Oshinksy
“There is no better way to really support the health of children around the world than through worldwide vaccination. Economically, politically, socially, medically, it is by far the best tool that we have. We are so close now to eradicating polio with vaccination. We are using vaccination against measles, mumps and we’re starting to develop the malaria vaccine. And what you really need to know is that…vaccines have proven itself over the years to be extremely safe and remarkably effective.”
As Malaka and I sat in the Roosevelt House, the place where President Roosevelt spent time recovering from polio and launched his political career, we heard the message loud and clear from panelists at the “Polio Eradication and the Power of Vaccines” event: “finish the campaign.” We’ve made extraordinary progress in the fight against polio but the job isn’t finished yet.
For those of you who may be wondering why polio and why now, Bill Gates shared three important answers in his annual letter. First, eradicating polio will mean that no child will ever be paralyzed or die from the disease in the future. Second, eradicating polio saves money and finally, success in polio eradication will help energize the field of global health and demonstrate how investments in health save lives, leading to other global health successes.
Dr. Oshinksy, Prof. Rees and Dr. de Quadros take questions for bloggers at the event
Professor Helen Rees from the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization described the polio eradication effort as a “gateway process” that will allow us to strengthen routine health services along the way and save children’s lives. Similarly, Dr. Ciro de Quadros from the Sabin Vaccine Institute stressed that the polio eradication effort “goes beyond lives saved and money saved but also helps transform the health infrastructure.” The gateway process that Professor Rees and Dr. de Quadros described will allow the world to achieve many other successes in global health and create a “culture of prevention.”
A generation ago, President Roosevelt rallied Americans to support the fight against polio, and now it’s our generation’s turn to finish the job and make polio eradication our legacy. Bill Gates said something I think particularly resonates among ONE members and I wanted to share it with you: “Not everyone can go into the field, or even donate. But every one of us can be an advocate for people whose voices are often not heard.” Supporting child vaccines will ensure that every child has a healthy start in life and now it’s our job to get that message out and “finish the campaign.”
Jan 31st, 2011 4:15 PM UTC
By Field
This past Friday, I attended an event with former Speaker Newt Gingrich in Columbus, Ohio. After he spoke, I was first to hop in line to meet him. I gave him a ONE band and told him about ONE’s focus on the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) this year and how US efforts can save million of lives through safe and effective vaccines. I thanked Newt for always making time for the world’s poorest people and for talking to ONE members. He shook my hand and thanked me for what I was doing for ONE.
Then, the following morning, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was in the area, so I stopped by the event to meet him and give him a ONE band as well. Before I could even introduce myself as a ONE member, he saw the wristband in my hand and said “ONE Campaign!” enthusiastically. I replied, “Yes, I’m a ONE member, I know you’ve seen us before. Thanks for the support and always taking time to talk to us!” He said “Of course, thanks for coming to meet me!” I mentioned to him how PEPFAR, a program that President Bush was historic in starting, is saving millions of lives — and as ONE members we hope he’ll continue to support the program if he’s ever in a position of leadership. He nodded his head in agreement and thanked me again for stopping by.
-Beth Kaltenbach, congressional district leader, Ohio
Ever since the US passed legislation last July ensuring that all oil, gas and mining companies would have to be far more transparent in their financial reporting, we have been pushing hard for similar action in Europe. We want all extractive companies around the world to publish what they pay the governments of the countries where the operate – therefore empowering local anti-corruption groups with the information they need to hold their leaders accountable for revenue received.
This campaign received a big boost on the weekend with the publication of a letter from President Sarkozy of France to ONE co-founder Bono announcing that he was prepared to show leadership on the issue. Bono had previously written an op-ed for Le Monde calling for exactly that.
The English text of the letter says:
“In your article, you bring up the need for transparency in the area of natural resources’ extraction in Africa. I completely agree with you. France is organising an experts’ conference on this issue in March in Paris. As of now, I have decided to ask the European Union to adopt, as speedily as possible, legislation to compel industries in the extractive sector to disclose their payments to all countries in which they operate.”
So congratulations to President Sarkozy and his team for championing such an important issue. Transparency campaigners across Africa will now be looking to you to carry this forward – and ensure that the wave of transparency reform does not lose momentum.
Cheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Office sat down with ONE co-founder Bono this weekend to discuss a whole host of issues including the work that ONE does, progress being made in the fight against extreme poverty, and how he got involved in the work of eradicating inequality. In the interview, he also notes the importance in fighting corruption, describing it as a “disease” — with transparency being the best vaccine against it.
Check it out:
On Sunday the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) announced the preliminary results of the Southern Sudan referendum in the Southern city of Juba. While few doubted the referendum outcome would be anything other than a majority vote in favour of separation, the size of this majority is quite remarkable. The preliminary results are that a huge 98.83% of the 8.3 million votes cast were in favour. These results are still preliminary and there have been a few irregularities recorded. However pending any legal disputes the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission should announce the official referendum outcome on February 7th (or February 14th if legal challenges are raised).
To hear the preliminary results many Southerners gathered at the grave of the John Garang – the southern Sudan liberation leader who signed the Comprehensive Peacekeeping Agreement in 2005 before dying in a helicopter accident just a few months later. At this event the current Southern Sudan president Salva Kiir thanked the crowd but warned the SSRC announcement didn’t mean the Southern Sudan was liberated yet. Reporting for the Guardian, Xan Rice quoted Kiir stating: his government was “not going to put down the flag of Sudan until July 9. The project has not finished … We cannot declare independence today. Let us respect the agreement. We must go slowly so we can reach safely to where we are going.”
(more…)
Britain takes on polio fight – British Prime Minister David Cameron issued a joint statement with philanthropist Bill Gates, pledging to double UK government funding to fight polio “if other donors also upped their contributions to eradicate the crippling disease.” The extra funding will be given on a matching fund basis, which means that for every $5 pledged by others from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012, Britain will increase its support by $1, up to a maximum of 40 million pounds over the two years. (Ben Hirschler, Reuters)
Foreign affairs budget spared in freeze – A proposed five-year spending freeze announced by President Obama in his recent State of the Union address will likely exclude the country’s foreign affairs budget, according to U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer. “Our budgets going forward will reflect that we clearly are very keen to preserve our foreign affairs funding in order to be best able to advance U.S. interests,” said Hammer, maintaining that the State Department, USAID and the Department of Defense are working to put taxpayer dollars “to good work to advance American interests around the world.” (Ma. Rizza Leonzon, Devex.com)
Gates Foundation targets ‘Unbanked’ – CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Jeff Raikes, brought attention to the more than one billion people who have no access so banks – and therefore to savings – at The World Economic Forum in Davos over the weekend. The Foundation is directing $500 million over the next few years to the people Raikes calls the “unbanked,” with the aim of transforming “the underlying economics of banking using mobile phone technology.” The new program to use this technology to offer savings products to people without access to traditional banks is being launched in Kenya, Tanzania and India. (Stephen Fidler, Wall Street Journal)
New farm framework forged at Davos – USAID is backing a new agricultural framework forged at the World Economic Forum in Davos, that “seeks to encourage private sector investments to boost agricultural growth and in global food and nutrition initiatives.” The new framework, titled “Realizing a New Vision for Agriculture,” has the support of 17 global firms, including DSM, the world’s largest manufacturer of micronutrients and vitamins to support rice fortification in countries such as Bangladesh, Senegal and Tanzania. (Ma. Rizza Leonzon, Devex.com)
Poverty line rises for families in Zimbabwe – The poverty line for maintaining a family of five in economically ravaged Zimbabwe rose last year to $467 per month – but without increased earnings to cover the 8 percent rise, Zimbabwe’s state statistics agency said. The nation’s 240,000 civil servants, teachers and government workers are planning to strike to protest average monthly incomes of around $200. With massive unemployment, most Zimbabweans survive on the equivalent of about $1 a day. (Angus Shaw, AP)
