Nearly 150 ONE super-members were in Washington, D.C. for ONE’s 2011 Power Summit, a four-day advocacy extravaganza. Abby Sasser from Tennessee writes about her experience meeting Sens. Corker and Alexander.
Senator Corker and Senator Alexander with ONE members
Fresh off of our victory in stopping cuts to critical programs in the 2011 budget, Tennessee ONE members headed to Washington, D.C., for the ONE Power Summit. During the summit, we visited Capitol Hill to discuss funding for global vaccines and agriculture for next year’s budget. We met both Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander and visited Rep. Jim Cooper’s office to remind them that more than 22,000 ONE members in the state would like Congress to save the 1 percent of the federal budget that supports life saving programs for the most vulnerable people around the world.
Last night, PBS NewsHour aired a clip from “Edge of Joy,” a documentary on maternal health in Nigeria by filmmaker Dawn Shapiro. The film is one of four winners from The Economist Film Project, a partnership with the NewsHour to showcase independent documentaries from around the world.
Mo Ibrahim And The Quest To Build A Better Africa –The Huffington Post profiles Sudanese billionaire, Mo Ibrahim, one of Africa’s foremost philanthropists, who has “staked his reputation on questioning the transparency and efficacy of all 53 governments on the continent.” Each year, Ibrahim’s foundation recognizes a democratically elected African head of state who has demonstrated good governance and observed term limits. (Alex Wagner, The Huffington Post)
Inflation surges in Kenya and Uganda on food, fuel –The Kenyan government has moved to curb soaring prices of basic commodities through a reduction in tax on kerosene, a planned removal of import duty on wheat and maize, as well as an increase in the minimum wage. Consumer prices have surged in Kenya since November thanks to steady increases in food and fuel prices, a trend also seen in its east African neighbors Uganda and Tanzania. (Reuters)
By now, I’m sure that many of you have signed our vaccines petition — nearly 82,000 of you just in the US, to be exact. Naturally, the next step would be for you to share that good news with your family and friends. But what would you tell them?
I decided to turn to our friends on Twitter and Facebook for help. Earlier today, I asked them, “If you had to convince a non-ONE member to sign our vaccines petition, what would you say?” Here’s a sampling of the responses we received:
GOOD Magazine just released a cool infographic on preventing polio. While those of us fortunate to live in developed countries live without the fear of polio and tend to think of it as a thing of the past, polio is still very much alive in about a dozen countries today. This crippling and oftentimes deadly disease causes lifelong pain and great economic burden.
Kenya cuts taxes on maize, wheat – The Kenyan government announced that it was removing the tax on maize and wheat imports “in a bid to cushion citizens from the effects of rising global food prices,” following the deaths of five people from hunger in recent weeks. Kenya’s Prime Minister also wants to remove all taxes on kerosene, the main fuel used for cooking and lighting houses in Kenya, which he argues has gone up in price due to turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. (AP)
Food prices, elections twin threat for Africa – Food price hikes are hitting Africa’s urban populations harder now than in 2008 and pose a serious challenge to some of the continent’s leaders, who face elections this year, a World Bank official said. At a time of many elections in Africa, the food crisis is difficult for governments to manage and control, according to the Bank, which called the situation in Uganda particularly worrisome, following violent protests organized by the opposition over rising prices. (David Lewis, Reuters)
With our recently launched vaccines petition to save 4 million children’s lives in 5 years, there’s certainly been a great deal of immunization talk around the ONE office. Well, here’s some more. Get excited, people, because it’s officially Immunization Week around the world right now!
Okay, so that may not be the most thrilling sentence ever uttered. But here’s why it should be. Last year was a great year for immunization. With 2010 came a series of natural disasters, resulting in what seemed to be a road of difficult public health challenges ahead.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
