Supporting Women's Health with the Global MOMS Act

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Back in June, I signed a Care2 petition supporting the Global MOMS Act which is designed to reduce global maternal mortality.

Implementation of MDG No. 5 Maternal Health would actually help stabilize our planet's population. It would also help to ensure economic vitality in our future, presuming we also fulfill the other of the 7 Millennium Development Goals.

As Kayla from the Care2 ThePetitionSite tells us:

No woman should have to put her life or health at risk during pregnancy or childbirth, and all new borns should have a healthy start in life. The Global MOMS Act will help countless mothers worldwide get access to quality health care services and reduce maternal mortality.

The term Maternal Death should become an oxymoron. Currently, they are are petitioner 12,857 and they are trying to reach 20,000. The bill seems to be going nowhere fast so needs all the help it can get. There doesn't seem to be any great amount of coverage by the main stream media.

Tell your members of Congress to support the Global MOMS Act and fight for women's health around the world. »

I did and got a response from one of them though it was not the one that is running for re-election and it was from the wrong part of the Congress .

Dear Mr. Dowling

Thank you for writing to express your support for the "Improvements in Global Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes while Maximizing Successes Act" (Global MOMS Act) (H.R. 5268). I appreciate hearing your views on this pending legislation, and welcome the opportunity to respond.

Like you, I believe that the United States must continue to lead international efforts to improve maternal and child health care and reduce child mortality rates worldwide. During my tenure in the Senate I have worked hard to ensure that international maternal and child welfare programs are adequately funded. For example, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I supported the $7.8 billion included in the fiscal year 2010 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (Public Law111-117) for the Global Health and Child Survival Account, which funds programs to provide nutritional support and vaccines to women and children. Further, I coauthored a letter to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Ranking Member Judd Gregg (R-NH) requesting that the Committee support full funding for the President's fiscal year 2011 international affairs budget request of $58.5 billion, which includes funding to directly improve the health, nutrition, sanitation, and educational needs of women and children worldwide.

As you may know, the "Global MOMS Act" is pending consideration by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and at this time, there is no companion bill in the Senate. Please know that I will continue to do my best to ensure that child health and welfare programs receive the funding they deserve, and be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should this legislation come before me in the Senate.

Again, thank you for writing. I hope that you will continue to write on matters of importance to you. Should you have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

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It's World Malaria Day -- Proof that the Millennium Development Goals are Achieveable

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Today is World Malaria Day. Malaria is one of the targets of Millennium Development Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

The UN Wire reports that World Malaria Day brings us one step closer to our goal

This weekend, thousands of people around the world are showing their commitment to ending malaria deaths by 2015 by Sleeping Out, sending nets, throwing fundraisers, and spreading the buzz about malaria prevention. Sunday, April 25, is World Malaria Day – and just in time for this annual day of recognition for the cause, the World Bank has made an astounding commitment of their own : they are pledging $200 million to provide people in sub Saharan Africa with bed nets. This announcement comes just days…

Emily L. from Care2 Health Policy reminds us to Do Our Part to Commemorate World Malaria Day

December 31, 2010 was the target date UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon set in place for delivering effective mosquito nets to all regions affected by malaria (his words: "universal coverage"). This is an incredibly lofty goal, but that's what makes it so wonderful. We are making real progress toward the eradication of malaria, and moving rapidly toward the Millennium Development Goals.

Of all the Millennium Development Goals, this one seems to have the most focus by the main stream media and the people it follows.

Stars, social media unite for malaria effort

Celebrities are lining up to support an online campaign to urge people to buy insecticide-treated bed nets to help prevent the spread of malaria in Africa. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and actor Ashton Kutcher will seek to leverage their followings on the social-media site Twitter to drive the campaign.

The UN aims to reduce the deaths from malaria to near zero in Africa by 2015. So far, more than $4 billion has been raised to fight the disease, mostly from the World Bank, government agencies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The UN expects to cover 800 million people at risk of malaria with bednets, but it is still short of funding for roughly 50 million of those nets, Chambers said.

There is true significant progress being made, this does not mean that we can rest on our laurels though.

Africa's malaria battle progressing, more help promised

Malaria infections are dropping across Africa in response to the World Health Organization's Roll Back Malaria program, according to Rob Newman, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme. U.S. officials announced plans to focus part of that country's Global Health Initiative on reaching 450 million women and children in sub-Saharan Africa with the aim of halving malaria rates among the group.

Reuters (4/22) U.S. effort to fight malaria focuses on women

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:08pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government announced on Thursday it would focus part of its $63 billion, six-year Global Health Initiative plan to accelerate efforts to fight malaria, mostly in Africa and aimed at women and children

AlertNet.org/Reuters (4/22)

INTERVIEW-Africa making "dramatic" headway against malaria

22 Apr 2010 15:36:33 GMT Source: Reuters * Africa making "dramatic" anti-malaria progress * Killer disease's economic burden likely to ease By Ed Cropley

Infection rates in Zambia, for instance, more than halved from 2001 to 2008 due to widespread distribution of mosquito nets, targeted spraying of insecticides and better and cheaper diagnosis and treatment, said Rob Newman, director of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Global Malaria Programme.

The progress made in the struggle to eradicate malaria has been on many fronts. Government organizations through the United Nations and in developed industrial countries, non-government organizations such as the World Bank and World Health Organization, philanthropic organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The most important factor to my mind was capturing the imagination of the public that this was a terrible challenge that ruined the lives of millions, but that it was a challenge that could be successfully met. We need to do as good as a job as that with the other 7 Millennium Development Goals this September at the UN Millennium Summit.

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Urgent Message To [Insert Your Senator's Name Here] on U.S. International Affairs Budget

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It has been about 3 weeks since I have had a chance to get back to this blog, but luckily this request from ONE only came a couple of days ago.

Tom Hart, Government Relations Director of ONE says that Between now and 2015, we can eliminate malaria as a major public health problem in the world, ensure no child is born with HIV, and prevent more than 4.2 million future child deaths through vaccination.

We can do this through smart investments in global health, with a particular focus on women and young children. But we can't do it without a strong U.S. International Affairs Budget.

I signed the petition asking Senator Barbara Boxer

Please sign the bipartisan budget letter supporting a $58.5 billion International Affairs Budget.

I said:

I hope you support this effort being recommended both by ONE and the US Global Leadership Coalition. There are few things we can do that both help the less fortunate in the world and help our national security.

The deadline of April 9, for senators to sign the letter is coming up fast.

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You Told Your Senator Now Tell President Obama Support Malaria Vaccination Research

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This is still in line with the post I did earlier today. It has been in drafts for over a month but it is an ongoing effort so I decided to put it up.

The Millennium Development Goal No. 6 calls for us to Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases especially malaria and reverse its trend across the globe, but that has to happen one child at a time. Care2 reminds us that the biggest battle against this disease is for the lives of our children. It's time we stop these needless deaths and develop a vaccine against malaria. »

Children are especially susceptible to malaria because of their fledgling immune systems. But scientists are developing a vaccine that could save millions around the world.

The vaccine reproduces the natural immunity against malaria that usually takes years to develop -- so it is especially beneficial to young children. It was extremely successful in tests in Mali, and studies are set to expand.

Tell President Obama to support studies of the malaria vaccine. »

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• ONE urges donors to fully fund the Global Fund and GAVI (one.org)

Seeing the Vision of a Better World

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Back in September of last year, I did a post on Exploring Pathways of Vision, Sight and Insight at My Pathways to New Paradigms blog which was designed to open myself to new possibilities.

This blog takes the idealistic visions of what could be possible and works to identify efforts to make them a reality. The Millennium Development Goals are an ultimate expression of that concept. The idea that individuals could have even a minuscule affect on global challenges that have afflicted the world for centuries takes both extreme idealism and pragmatism. The Exploring Pathways of Vision dealt with the subject from a more academic, scientific and philosophical perspective though it did recognize how this work could benefit millions.

This post looks at real world application in developing countries. Andrew of Care2 tells us that in Africa, approximately 140 million people are at risk of river blindness, a disease caused by the bite of a black fly that breeds in fast flowing rivers.

Fortunately, one tablet can prevent river blindness and Merck & Co. has promised to provide this tablet for as long as it takes to get rid of this disease for free.

Care2 asked us to send a message of support to the volunteers on the ground letting them know you are grateful for their work.

In some villages, most of the adults have gone blind and the children are kept home from school to act as their guides and caretakers. This devastating disease has forced families to move away from fertile lands and fresh water for fear of going blind. Right now, volunteers are working to distribute these free tablets to as many people as possible.

Here is my message to the volunteers at Sight Savers International.

You are not only a great example of humanity for the rest of us, you are also a model of how non-profits and businesses can work together to positively address the suffering on millions. The science of the western world makes no difference if it can't get to where it is needed. A heartfelt thanks also to Merck & Company for their role is this important effort.

Change.org calls on us to take action now to call on the international community to provide assistance to end preventable blindness today >

More than 40 million people in the developing world can't see their children, parents, and friends, yet most blindness can be prevented or cured with inexpensive medicine or operations. Trachoma infection causes horrible pain, scarring and eventually blindness, and it affects millions of children around the world. But a simple $8 operation can fix these problems, sparing a child years of infections resulting in a lifetime in the dark.

This video provides a glimpse into the suffering that this can cause.

This next one tells us how these problems can be successfully addressed with pragmatic and low cost approaches to care. A concept we seem to have difficulty with in the West.

Thulasiraj Ravilla: How low-cost eye care can be world-class | Video on TED.com

This blog plays only a very small part in getting the word out about these efforts. It is hoped that by recognizing and telling of the efforts of others I can help generate more support for them.

Global Health, Gates Foundation, and Giving a Dang

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It is the beginning of a new year and a new decade, making it a good opportunity to look over the past year or so that this blog has been in existence. This continues to be a personal experiment in how to use Web 2.0 for positive affect both personally and globally. This is not where I expected to end up when I started.

My first post was on 24 July 2008 End Poverty 2015 - Millennium Development Goals. This effort grew from what I was doing with My Pathways to New Paradigms blog. Initially, I was only thinking of ways to organize websites solely for my personal use (I had no idea about del.icio.us or diigo). The power of collaborative endeavors made possible by the the Internet not only applied to Web 2.0 but also to the efforts of change-agent (a term borrowed from Seth Godin, an important source of my looking at new paradigms) organizations doing their part to change the world for the better. Back on December 30, 2007, I was posting on a Los Angeles Times article on the Gates Foundation's Best Intentions Unintended Consequences (it was also the post that provided the inspiration to create this blog, due to a comment form Aditi). A couple of months later another post announced that Now, LA Times Recognizes That Africa's Anti-malaria Campaign Is Showing Results.

Recently, I received an even more positive update from fellow ONE member Melinda French Gates, who had visited Tsion, a hard-working young woman in the Ethiopia government's Health Extension Program.

Trained to tend to pregnant mothers, who otherwise would rely on traditional attendants unable to stop internal bleeding or resuscitate newborns, Tsion helped take the terror and fear of death out of childbirth for hundreds of women.

Bill and Melinda Gates are self-declared "Impatient Optimists" and their message was to celebrate successes in global health and especially when it comes to U.S.-funded global health initiatives through their online presentation titled "Living Proof: Why we are Impatient Optimists."

Thanks to 30,000 trained health extension workers like Tsion, access to health care in rural areas is rapidly expanding. And the health of Ethiopian children and women is improving.

That's why, when it comes to global health, Bill and I are optimists—but we're impatient optimists. We need to build on this success now, by expanding it to even more women in Ethiopia and helping families in other countries benefit from what Ethiopia has learned.

Sharing success stories is one of the most important things we can do to motivate and inspire others in the fight against global poverty and disease.

That is what this blog is all about. While the intent was to create something that sought to be transformative in promoting the Millennium Development Goals, its greatest impact has undoubtedly been on myself.

World Aids Day Seeking Comfort and Hope

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My last post was on World Aids Day supporting the BloggersUnite event in support of day. Truth be told it was a last minute post thrown together during my real life/day job lunch hour but I wanted to get something up. Despite the last minute effort, I got a comment from somebody who has been touched by the destruction of this disease, so I thought it worthwhile to pass it along.

VictorStephens commented on BloggersUnite Reminds that Today is World AIDS Day and so does the rest of the world - Milestones For A New Millennium:

HIV/AIDS has touched the soft spot of people globally. In almost all countries over the world, there are many associations, charitable organizations, religious missions and several other bodies have setup funds, donations and other aid to help the unfortunate AIDS victims. I have personally seen innocent children of tender age affected by aids which was no fault of theirs. AIDS today has definitely become a global problem. Much has been said of this dreaded disease, but sad to say, the statistics adds on daily. When is the world going to say that we have conquered AIDS? Do we just talk about it only? What promise and comfort has the future for these poor victims?

Site/Blog URL: http://familyget-togetherhaven.blogspot.com

BloggersUnite Reminds that Today is World AIDS Day and so does the rest of the world

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BloggersUnite is getting bloggers together today to recognize World Aids Day. World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. The fact that it remains a global affliction is why it is the 6th Millennium Development Goal Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

What is inspiring is that this is a cause that brings out the best in people. People can get involved at that global level and at the local level, whether they are the rich and famous or just every day folks.

The Catholic Medical Mission Board reminds us for the reason for World Aids Day and provides both reasons to celebrate and reasons to continue the work.

World AIDS Day; a day that reminds us that HIV has not gone away. The scope of the problem seems overwhelming; 33 million people infected, 15 million children orphaned.

60 second video Our efforts to fight HIV/AIDS have already made an impact on countless lives. In the last year, with your help, we have:

• reached 69,786 women with counseling and testing,
• reached 53,184 men, women and children with life-saving antiretroviral treatment,
• provided short course antiretrovirals for HIV prevention in pregnancy to 1,940 women,
• shipped to 39 countries, donated medicines and medical supplies valued at 265 million dollars,
• sent more than 500 healthcare volunteers to 27 countries.

"The people we are helping are living proof of the strength and depth of the human personality."

-John F. Galbraith, President and CEO

Sam Davidson of 5 MINUTES OF CARING shares the idea of glocal which readily applies to this issue and the efforts being undertaken today.

The term "glocal" is used to draw attention to an idea that has both "global" and "local" implications. AIDS certainly fits the bill. Worldwide, over 33 million peopleare living with HIV, and over two million of those are children. Sub-Sarahan Africa is hit the worst with it, and no part of the world is immune to AIDS. So today, learn more about AIDS and then take action on a global level. Whether you support an NGO doing work on the ground, or just pass along this article to a friend, spend five minutes looking at the big picture.

For World AIDS Day, Ashley Greene, ONE Member joined some friends from TV and film to make a video sharing our commitment to defeating extreme poverty and preventable disease. This blog is a small voice but it can also help spread the word.

The more people talk, the more we can accomplish. Just sharing your commitment to fighting global poverty with your friends can inspire them to make the same commitment, and start up a buzz that will build into a roar of collective action.

Throughout history we've seen how committed people, together, can change laws, break barriers and decide elections. And together, we can defeat extreme poverty and eradicate preventable, treatable diseases including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

But it takes all of us working together across borders, time zones, cultures...through advocacy, action, and awareness-raising.

Reaching Out Helping Women Realize the Millennium Development Goals

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I received a request from Amnesty International requesting support for women in Sierra Leone. It fits in with 3 of the Millennium Development Goals 3. Gender Equity 4. Child Health 5. Maternal Health .

One in eight Sierra Leonean women die giving birth. Health care facilities are understaffed, lack basic equipment and medicines and are far from people's homes. Pregnant women and their families struggle to afford the costs of getting to a hospital and the costs of the care they would receive there.

• A higher proportion of women in Sierra Leone die in childbirth and pregnancy than almost anywhere else in the world
  
• Women and their families are forced to negotiate and pay for equipment and medications, and provide their own food and water, while they're in a health facility, at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives
  
• Most people live far away from a medical facility and cannot afford transportation costs to a hospital or doctor

So I signed the letter the following letter to help make sure that no more lives are cut short. Urge Sierra Leone's government to make maternal health a priority.

Dear President Koroma,

I am very distressed to hear of the high risks that women in Sierra Leone face in pregnancy and childbirth. I understand that more women in Sierra Leone die during childbirth than almost anywhere else in the world.

I respectfully urge you to make every effort to guarantee the health and well-being of pregnant women. Access to maternal health care services would be improved by allocating more money to health within the budget, by addressing the mismanagement of resources, by ensuring hospitals are better supplied and medical staff paid adequate salaries and by providing women and girls with information about their health and reproductive rights.

It is your duty as President to ensure that the right to life and the right to health of all Sierra Leonean women are respected and protected. The government of Sierra Leone should ensure that costs are not a barrier to essential health services, including emergency obstetric care and other reproductive health services.

Yours sincerely,
Brian Dowling

What would be even better is empowering women to help themselves. The story and video below provide two examples, One from the Stand Up Take Action Campaign and one from Care. It is only natural that I use it in a blogging post as this year the Stand Up Take Action End Poverty Now! event, taking place on October, 16th is intended to give a clear focus on holding governments accountable for improving the status of women and their rights.

Kenyan Women Use ‘Stand Up’ to Stop Harassment, Fight for Maternal Health By Monica Omollo

“Stand Up provided a platform for me to bring together the voices of rural women to speak out about issues affecting them,” she said. “It provides an opportunity to empower rural women and ensure that they understand that they have the power to change their current circumstances through advocacy.”Monica organized the first-ever public anti-poverty rally in the Nyanza province, about 300 km outside Nairobi. The event was presided over by Ida Odinga, the wife of current Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.“The rally was considered unusual because most public rallies in this area have been political and hosted by politicians looking for votes,” she said. “The public was therefore very happy that we were out to find common solutions for their problems.”

Galapogos Effect - Scaling in Health Care

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This post fits in with both the concept of Scaling versus Diffusion and with Global Health Care, two issues which have been dealt with in the recent past. From Hardware to Collaborative Philosophy "Whatever it takes" dealt with scaling. This article from FastCompany by Robert Fabricant appeared in July. I find scaling versus diffusion an interesting topic and Global Health Care a good medium for exploration. Robert Fabricant takes a biological approach to global health care delivery using the Galapagos Island Effect because, "It has evolved its own ecosystem and business practices that reflect this isolation" to understand the issues from a pragmatic perspective as to how best deliver services. As usual far more information is available at the orginal article.

TB: The Galapagos Effect in Health Care

And it was very apparent at the Pacific Health Summit despite the presence of some of the most brilliant minds in public health (like Tony Fauci, Paul Farmer, and Laurie Garrett). Despite their best efforts, industry leaders continue to betray an outdated, manufacturing mindset, referring to everything that has impact in the field--that touches communities and provides real human value--as "delivery." This one-way model of engagement is truly shocking in an age dominated by communications technologies and connectivity. Health is not 'delivered' to people. It relies on active engagement and participation. It is a dialogue.

He goes on to deal with some myths that to my mind can be applied beyond the health care field which a bulleted below.

• #1: Innovation Happens in the Lab
• MDR-TB vividly demonstrates that solutions that work in the lab are not necessarily well-suited to the behavior and cultural conditions in the field. So why not build those conditions into the model from the beginning? As designers, we find those conditions to be inspiring.
• 2: Innovation Only Flows in One Direction
• The prevailing direction of health-care innovation is not just from lab to field but also from first to third world. The "business" of delivering global health services was a post that featured both Dr. Ernest Madu: Creative ways to bring health care to the poorest and #Dr. Seyi Oyesola: Rich hospital, poor hospital
• #3: The Field is Messy
• The article points out that it is humans that are messy. This challenges us, "to think more broadly about human needs and behavior. To step outside the narrow lens of a particular condition."
• #4 Innovation must be Market-Driven
• The myth is that impact cannot be scaled and maintained without a market mechanism. This goes back to the idea of scalability as defined by market know-how. But as pointed out in the article, "does it hold equally true to scaling up access, outreach and support? How innovative are the large multi-nationals in this area particularly in relation to the routine and chronic diseases of the poor?"

The Great Flu : The Video Game for Paul Farmer Wanna-bes.

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Back in March of this year I did a post on Looking for the next Pandemic, a game online, life and death offline. The post focused on an article in Global Health - Change.org: What Will Be the Next Global Pandemic? Let's Find Out. and an online game found by two of my nieces, Pandemic II. Though I had doubts as to the veracity of the game, what I thought that what would be even better is if somebody came up with a WHO versus Pandemic game where one could learn the challenges facing global health delivery. Well somebody did, the folks at the Erasmus MC of the Netherlands (site has limited English). They have made a game called The Great Flu. The Rachel Maddow show said that the World Health Organization did not have time to play the game to give its opinion on it. So I still cannot say anything about the scientific accuracy of the game, but I have to believe that it is, and at least it is a step in the right direction. More at Swine flu inspires new video game by By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer at Wtop.com.

Related Posts:

• 6th of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals
• World Wide AIDS the Tragedy
• Overcoming Competing Goals and Commitments in Global Malaria Intervention

6th of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

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This is the sixth of the United Nations Millennium Campaign 8 video special on the Millennium Development goals. This captivating video focuses on the personal stories and struggles around achieving Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS.

United Nations Millennium Campaign - Goal 6- Combat

United Nations Millennium Campaign - Goal 6- Combat HIV AIDS

Related Posts:

• The Ongoing Campaign Against Malaria
  

• Fighting Against Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis steming the pandemic that is sweeping countries : A Scientific American In-Depth Report
  

• World Wide AIDS the Tragedy
  

• Dec. 1st Bloggers Unite Blog for World Aids Day
  

• Innovation, Disruptive Milestones for the New Millennium
  

• The U.S. Election and Science and Hope
  

• Barack Obama on Millennium Development Goals

4th of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

Sphere: Related Content This is the fourth of the 8 videos provided by the Facebook Group United Nations Millennium Campaign on the Millennium Development goals. We are making up for some lost time but has I said in the last post it still provides a great visual in making the case for the Millennium Development Goals. I did some gripping and the people at the Facebook Group United Nations Millennium Campaign responded immediately which is a hallmark of a concerned effort. The "first" day video is here. The second day video is here. Third day video here.

This is the fourth of the 8 video special by United Nations Millennium Campaign on the Millennium Development goals. This captivating video focuses on the personal stories and struggles around achieving Goal 4 - Child Health

Somewhat Related Post:

• End Poverty 2015 - Millennium Development Goals

The Ongoing Campaign Against Malaria

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This Saturday was World Malaria Day. I did not do a post on the day of the event. While it may have some promotional benefits in regards to raising awareness having single awareness days for causes has some limitations. More importantly, I know that this post will potentially reach more through the long tail of search engines than it will through my small but appreciated cadre of subscribers. This issue is of concern to this blog as it is within Millennium Development Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Below are some links from various sources dealing with this issue. First are some basic facts from Scientific American explaining both where we are and where we hope to go. I actually do subscribe to the magazine. There do seem to be glimmers of hope with the new vaccines, but at the very far end of the tunnel, more sustained globally-coordinated action is needed now.

In-Depth Report: A Guide to Malaria

The international community has just two years to meet the United Nations' 2010 goal of providing protection and treatment to every person threatened by malaria. Can it be done?

• When was malaria first discovered and by whom? How is the disease transmitted? What are its effects? Toby Fagan, postdoctoral researcher at Edinburgh University, gives this response
• Money for cheaper herb-based malaria meds A subsidy program intended to drive down the cost of lifesaving malaria drugs called artemisinin-based combination therapies -- now considered the most effective treatment against the parasitic disease -- is unveiled
• New Malaria Map Shows Disease More Widespread Than Previously Thought Scientists report that there are nearly 50 percent more clinical cases of malaria worldwide than previous estimates suggested
• Malaria Vaccine Proves Effective in Clinical Trial A new vaccine stimulates human immune cells to recognize and kill malaria parasites
• Successful Malaria Vaccine Also Proves Effective in Infants New data shows that the RTS,S vaccine is safe and effective in infants
• 2008 Gadget Guide: 11 Socially Responsible Inventions to Save the World Devices to pump and filter water, protect against disease-carrying insects, and more

Sign Up for other Scientific American Newsletters

The second is from CoolPeopleCare written by Sam Davidson who urges

Let's put an end to malaria.

Sam reminds us of the nearly three million children in Sub-Saharan Africa who are in danger despite on needing something simple as a simple bed net that could be purchased through organizations like Sweet Sleep. He also provides the opportunities to join the commitment to ensure that everyone in malaria-affected regions has access to essential prevention and treatment services by 2010 or by sending a postcard to help raise awareness. As Sam says, Malaria, like poverty, can be stopped, and we can be the generation to stop it.

Click here to Count yourself in

Finally, Care2 offers additional means of helping. You can get to those means from here.

"I pledge to give up buying cookies for 2 weeks..."
"I pledge to ride my bike to work instead of driving this week..."
"I pledge to cook at home one night instead of eating out..."

Sometimes, it doesn't take much to save a life. It can be an action as small and simple as forgoing one movie ticket. Just $10 can buy a lifesaving bed net, send it to Africa and show a family how to properly hang it.

What small pledge will you make to save a life from malaria? Share your pledge and save a life »

Often, the lifesaving solution is simple: refugees in Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania need bed nets. With your help, families in these refugee camps can get bed nets before the rainy season arrives in eastern Africa. What are you willing to give up for a few days in order to save a life? Please make a difference and help save the life of a refugee in Africa today »

Thank you for helping,

Natasha
Care2 Campaign Team
< Saturday, April 25 is World Malaria Day.
Send a Net - Save a Life. It's Truly That Simple »

A postcard has been sent from the World Malaria Day web site from Brian Dowling.

Related Posts:

• World Wide AIDS the Tragedy

• Overcoming Competing Goals and Commitments in Global Malaria Intervention

Looking for the next Pandemic, a game online, life and death offline

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Yesterday's post linked to my new fundraising page FightAIDSTuberculosisMalaria as part of my recent Change.org page. Below is a post on Global Health that was sent to me from Change.org weekly by way of their Blog for Change. The blogger Alanna Shaikh is trying to determine what the next pandemic could be. Revisiting her site should provide updates to which disease is currently in front in the race. That night my two nieces were talking about an online game Pandemic II. The idea of the game is to wipe out the entire world population, which beyond a number of other questionable premises, makes little sense from an evolutionary perspective (for the virus, not for us). Perhaps the game could be used to test various diseases against each other. What would be even better is if somebody came up with a WHO versus Pandemic game where one could learn the challenges facing global health delivery.

• Global Health - Change.org: What Will Be the Next Global Pandemic? Let's Find Out.

  Alanna Shaikh has spent the last ten years immersed in global health; she has worked for NGOs, companies, universities, and the US government on projects that ranged from preventing antibacterial resistance to improving maternal and child health. She has decided to try picking the next pandemic.
  

• What will be the next global pandemic? Avian influenza? Smallpox? Well, in honor of March madness, I'm holding a tournament. We're going to find the next global pandemic, right here. We'll match up the scariest infectious diseases, and pick a winner - the next global pandemic.

  diigo tags: change.org, mdg6, global health

  • This is one of the challenges that faces us in achieving the 6th Millennium Development Goal combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

March 25 Online live chat on maternal health

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This is another example of focusing on getting the word out more than on analyzing or commenting on a particular subject. This one came from the UN Millennium Campaign - www.endpoverty2015.org. This involves a number of the Millennium Goals - 3. Gender Equity 4. Child Health and 5. Maternal Health.

On March 25 at 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time, Womens' eNews' Kimberly Seals Allers will moderate a live chat with Annie Raja, General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, and Dr. Jemima A. Dennis-Antwi, the International Confederation of Midwives' Regional Midwifery Adviser for Anglophone Africa.

Dear friend,

Do you know what the number one killer of young women in the developing world is?

It's not a disease whose cure eludes us, or a condition which the world lacks the resources to treat. It is pregnancy and childbirth.

Every year, 500,000 women die while trying to give life. That's one every single minute.

The vast majority of these deaths are preventable. As part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of promises made in the year 2000 to eradicate extreme poverty, improve health, education and the environment and create a global partnership for development - 189 world leaders have pledged to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. But maternal health has seen the least progress of all of the MDGs, and the Goal is unlikely to be achieved unless urgent action is taken now.

In today's story on Women's eNews, Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Deputy Director for Africa at the United Nations Millennium Campaign -- which supports citizens' efforts to hold their leaders accountable for meeting the MDGs - shares a personal story of losing his sister during childbirth last month, and calls on the leaders of developing countries to mobilize domestic resources to ensure that mothers get the proper medical care they need.

Now, amidst this global emergency, the UN Millennium Campaign has partnered with Women's eNews, the online source of substantive information about issues of particular concern to women, to host a live online chat about maternal health. On March 25 at 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time, Womens' eNews' Kimberly Seals Allers will moderate a live chat with Annie Raja, General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, and Dr. Jemima A. Dennis-Antwi, the International Confederation of Midwives' Regional Midwifery Adviser for Anglophone Africa. Both women will share their firsthand experiences from the front lines of the fight against maternal mortality, and discuss the importance for the world's women of achieving the MDGs.

About the moderator: Kimberly Seals Allers is Editorial Director of the Black Maternal Health Project, generously funded by the W.K.Kellogg foundation to raise awareness of U.S. maternal health deficits. She is also founder of Mochamanual.com.

Please visit www.endpoverty2015.org or www.womensenews.org to register in advance to log in to this event online. Questions for the panellists can be emailed in advance to maternalmortalitydebate@gmail.com or typed in during the event.

We hope you will join us online on the 25th for this important discussion!

Best wishes,
Salil Shetty, Director, UN Millennium Campaign
Rita Henley Jensen, Founder and Editor in Chief, Women's eNews

/ Copyright 2004 - 2007 UN Millennium Campaign

Fighting Against Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis steming the pandemic that is sweeping countries : A Scientific American In-Depth Report

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One source of information is the Scientific American Newsletter. They had a special issue on the uphill efforts to eradicate Tuberculosis. I am providing the links to the main article and some of the related articles. These fit directly with the focus of this blog and the Millennium Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases. It has also been a topic of interest in My Pathways to New Paradigms. I wrote in that blog of having a great deal of confidence in addressing many of the problems we face today through technology and science. These are concrete examples of why. This is also the area in which I believe that business models can be the most value added. We are constantly looking for more economically efficient healthcare delivery systems in this country and it is a critical issue, but it takes on a far greater epidemic life and death perspective in developing countries. There is the additional challenge of taking on far more desperate circumstances with a greater deficit of resources.

In-Depth Report:
The Fight Against Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis

• What's the Rx for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis? Hard Work--And Imagination
  A rising star in public health is showing the world that the deadliest strains of tuberculosis can be treated anywhere
• New Tactics in the Fight against Tuberculosis
  The pandemic is growing in many places, and strains resistant to all existing drugs are emerging. To fight back, biologists are applying a host of cutting-edge drug development strategies
• Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis in Russia
  Merrill Goozner traveled to Siberia to find out if rising rates of MDR-TB in Russia can be curbed
• Infected and Imprisoned: Tuberculosis in a Siberian Jail [Slide Show]
  The plight of inmates with TB in Russia's Tomsk Province
• Tuberculosis, The Unromantic Killer
• Tuberculosis has never stopped being one of the world's most lethal infections
• Ancient Bones Hold TB Clues
  A team of Israeli, Palestinian and German scientists is analyzing DNA from human remains that date back to the ancient city of Jericho to try to understand more about the origins of tuberculosis

Related posts:
Global Health Equity From MIT World
Best Intentions Unintended Consequences
Barack Obama on Millennium Development Goals
Report for the World's efforts on MDGs: What we did last week
World Wide AIDS the Tragedy

FAO not Schwartz part 3 - A World Tragedy Too Long

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This post is the third on the work of the FAO and the challenges that they are addressing - hunger and malnutrition. The questions are raised by everyday people who see the tragedy of the affliction and the immorality of inadequate response from the developed world.

The images are cut from the heart: men and women depleted, the frazzle clothes, their bodies reduced to skin and bone. Even more painful is watching the children deformed by malnutrition, left to die in the dust.

Watch this video - the words are in Portuguese but the pictures are universal.

963 million people hungry, says FAO reports the Monitor Online News , According to the Guardian Newspaper Nearly a billion people worldwide are starving, UN agency warns, and Food prices add 40 million people to ranks of malnournished.

The problem of hunger is most acute in Africa were people are starving. Malnutrition is more widespread and actually affects more children in Asia according to World Hunger Notes.

According to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes could find, malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one of three(de Onis 2000). Geographically, more than 70 percent of nourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Africa though has multiple afflictions that combined together present a daunting challenge. People speak of an African Scourge, but scourge in Africa has many faces.

• Incontinence African Scourge; Lack of Medical Care Turns Girls into pariahs.
• Confronting Africa's scourge: AIDS
• Short draws attention to Africa's scourge of river blindness
• Central Africa: Scourge of Africa examined Genocide

Near the top of the list, the affliction of hunger and malnutrition seems to strike again and again.

• 14 Million at Risk of Starvation in Africa August 2008
• Starvation in Southern Africa October 2005
• Africa: millions threatened with starvation September, 2002
• Africa Death by Starvation - TIME January 1990

Sudan is dying of hunger again. The question is why, why anywhere?

World Hunger Notes provides some insights into the problems, a few of which are summarized below.

• The world produces enough food to feed everyone. The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.
• Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. The causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself, an estimated 982 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1 a day or less (World Bank, Understanding Poverty, Chen 2004).
  
• Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)reports that as of December 2006, there were at least 22.7 million displaced, including 9.9 million refugees and 12.8 million internally displaced persons (UNHCR 2007).
• Hunger is also a cause of poverty. By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's ability to work and learn.
  

Two resources featured in this blog can also help to provide some understanding. Both are under Millennium Bloggers with Minds of Their Own below this post. Anup Shah writes about, World Hunger and Poverty, at GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Sunday, July 06, 2008. Rav Casley Gera provides an informative chart in African history in ten seconds: New and improved! in his blog African Development for the Completely Bloody Ignorant posted under Useful sources. The recently discovered, The Profits of Famine: Southern Africa's Long Decade of Hunger is an older article from back in 2002, but it still provides some good insights into how we were brought to the present circumstances.

It is hoped though that the article will become even more out of date as people continue to endeavor to change the world for the better. As many of the stories in the TED Talks Africa, The Next Chapter tell us, Africa has unrealized potential and does not wish to be seen as either the charity case for the world or as the stepping stone for the world. One of my past posts Accession of African Activists. A DIY approach to the MDGs has a number of videos taken from the series.

Another worthwhile site, Goal One: Eradicate Hunger and Extreme Poverty.

It is still possible to continue making the needed changes to create a better world.

Related Posts -

FAO not Schwartz part 2- Opposing Pathways to Ending World Hunger and Malnutrition

FAO not Schwartz part 1 - Global Plan of Action Addresses a Global Challenge Hunger

FAO not Schwartz part 2- Opposing Pathways to Ending World Hunger and Malnutrition

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My last post dealt with the global efforts of the FAO to address the global challenge of world hunger and malnutrition. I took my usual public policy wonk approach that the organizational infrastructure and business-like strategy were as important as social relevancy and moral inspiration. The ability of the FAO to conduct evaluations of past activities at an in depth level was as important as its laudable intention to be more proactive in its future endeavors.

There is another level of discussion that goes beyond the efforts of the FAO and United Nation's efforts to the basic philosophy behind the best means of addressing these problems. My inspiration once again comes from the End POVERTY / Fim POBREZA group forums. How we see the problem will influence how we see any potential solutions. One of group's members used a famous bet to frame the debate.

The ongoing debate centers around a bet between Noble Prize winning scientist Paul Ehrlich and the famous American economist Julian Simon. The metric of the bet was the price that five metals reached on the Chicago Stock Exchange in the following decade. Ehrlich claimed that population growth would raise the demand and the price of metals. The metal lost value, and Ehrlich lost that particular bet.

Paul Ehrlich wrote the controversial best-seller the Population Bomb in 1968 which made projections about the catastrophic consequences of population explosion. Ehrlich was trained as an entomologist and has an affinity for systems and seeing the big picture. Ehrlich follows in the tradition of English philosopher Thomas Malthus, who in the eighteenth century posited "his hypothesis that (unchecked) population growth always exceeds the growth of means of subsistence" creating a Maltusian catastrophe. His "Essay on the Principle of Population" also influenced Darwin's theories.

Losing that particular wager did not stop the debate, the question is whether Ehrilich's work on population is still relevant. Taking the affirmative, the blog Yale Environment 360 discusses the matter in The Population Bomb: Has It Been Defused?

The Ehrlichs are sometimes ridiculed because Paul’s original book predicted hundreds of millions of deaths from famine in the 1980s, when we were bailed out by the Green Revolution. But they are right to question the new orthodoxy that technological fixes will always save the day. For myself, I fear that when the Wall Street Journal talks about a revival of Malthusian fears, it reflects a tendency to excuse those guilty of overconsumption, while instead blaming the poor for their poverty and our planetary predicament.

Fred Pearce
Environment consultant for New Scientist magazine

Others are still supportive of Simon, for example Jeffery Goldberg's article in the Atlantic, The Population Bomb That Bombed.

Ehrlich is now leading the Center for Conservation Biology research at Stanford University in California, and still holds to his central thesis: the earth is nearing its limit of sustainability of human life. Ehrlich's current work was featured in Wired Magazine back in March of this year, Population Bomb Author Tackles Cultural Evolution.

My own personal view is an attempt to find a middle path that incorporates both perspectives. Defining the problem as Ehrlich does, but recognizing the viability of Simon's arguments. This blog continues to be against an unfettered free market approach to economics and at the same time support social entrepreneurial efforts incorporating effective business discipline. Ehrlich proposes a Fix For Next Extinction: Educate Women. Where I come somewhat closer to siding with Simon is in applying the solutions. Finding that middle path, however, continues to be an ongoing debate with myself.

Related Posts -

FAO not Schwartz part 1 - Global Plan of Action Addresses a Global Challenge Hunger

FAO not Schwartz part 3 - A World Tragedy Too Long

Change Initiative to Empower Adolescent Girls Investing in the Girl Effect

Social responsibility,seeking the good