November 28th, 2007 at 2:43 pm | posted by Weldon Kennedy
For the last few weeks we have been turning on the heat for the presidential candidates to tell us exactly what, if elected, they would do fight extreme poverty and global disease.
So far this “On the Record” campaign has been stunningly successful as we’ve delivered more that 55,000 petition signatures to each of the campaigns. But if we’re going to get all of the presidential candidates to take this challenge and make the On the Record campaign a success, we need to go all out. It’s phone call time.
To make a call:
1. Go to ONE.org/OnTheRecordCalls/
2. Use the drop down menu to look up candidate’s numbers.
3. Use the talking points to help you with your call.
4. Fill out the form and check off each candidate you called.
This is a huge chance to make a real difference in the fight against poverty. If we can get all the candidates to make commitments to fighting poverty now, before the primaries and caucuses, we stand a good chance of our next president being dedicated to our cause.
“In a speech that emphasized the importance of “soft power” to prevent and end conflicts, Gates suggested beefing up the State Department’s foreign affairs budget of $36 billion, even as he acknowledged that Pentagon observers might consider it “blasphemy” for a sitting defense secretary to make such an appeal for another agency…
“We are miserable at communicating to the rest of the world what we are about as a society and culture,” Gates said. “It is just plain embarrassing that al-Qaeda is better at communicating its message on the Internet than America.”
The idea that development assistance is a key component to smart foreign policy is not a new one. It has, in fact, garnered increasing attention among high profile Washington foreign policy experts. Earlier this month, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (a bipartisan, nonprofit focused on global security and prosperity) released “the CSIS Commission on Smart Power,” which argues that investment in the global good is integral to America’s ability to tackle global challenges. You can read the full report here.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:39 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
Last week, Adam C from the blog RedState posted this video of Senator John McCain talking global AIDS funding and foreign aid spend accountability at a townhall in Haverhill, NH.
While corruption is harmful to all governments, losing resources to corrupt leaders is particularly devastating in poor countries where every dollar lost results in one less child in school or one less well dug to provide clean water. Approaches like America’s Millennium Challenge which direct assistance to honest governments are the most effective, as is channeling assistance through private (and faith-based) relief and development agencies.
More information about fighting corruption in the poorest countries here.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:03 am | posted by Josh Lozman
Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama released a broad strategy to promote global development.
In it, there are many specific commitments:
· Senator Obama renewed his commitment to double foreign assistance to $50 billion a year by 2012.
· Senator Obama committed to at least $2 billion a year in funding for global education and will leverage those commitments through the World Bank’s Fast Track Initiative (FTI). FTI approved countries have national education plans and are coordinated in their approach to achieving universal basic education.
· Senator Obama renewed his commitment to provide $50 billion over five years to fight global HIV/AIDS and will increase U.S. contributions to the Global Fund.
· Senator Obama has committed to 100% debt cancellation for the world’s heavily indebted poor countries and to pressing for reforms at the World Bank to ensure that poor countries receive grants rather than loans.
· Senator Obama has further commitments that support growth of developing country economies through support for agricultural development, a microfinance initiative, and infrastructure growth. These are all critical to the future of developing countries and we applaud their inclusion in the Senator’s global development plan.
· Senator Obama’s development plan also discussed reforms to the federal government’s development infrastructure that would include strengthening USAID and placing several government agencies working on development within USAID.
ONE Vote ‘08 thanks Senator Obama for presenting his plans to target extreme poverty and global disease.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:55 am | posted by Josh Lozman
Governor Huckabee recently released a statement outlining his plan to fight global HIV/AIDS if elected president. Governor Huckabee committed to supporting President Bush’s $30 billion plan over five years for a second round of the emergency AIDS plan. The Governor also committed to increasing support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
ONE Vote ‘08 applauds the governor for releasing his plans to fight HIV/AIDS. We look forward to hearing more from the governor about his plans to fight global poverty and disease.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:50 am | posted by Josh Lozman
Yesterday, Hillary Clinton issued a release outlining her plan for fighting both the domestic and global HIV/AIDS epidemics. In addition to committing to doubling funding for research towards a vaccine, she made several commitments specific to global HIV/AIDS including:
· Renewing her commitment to providing at least $50 billion for global HIV/AIDS by 2013 including an increased commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
· The statement says that Senator Clinton “will seek in the near term to double the number of people receiving treatment and put us on a path to reach the goal of universal access to medications.” She also provides commitments on health infrastructure including increasing the number of health workers in Africa by at least one million; this was a recommendation from the Commission on Africa report published in 2005.
· Senator Clinton is a sponsor of the Education for All Act currently in the Senate. There is a clear link between children being in school and those children avoiding contracting HIV. The Senator renewed her commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of universal basic education by 2015.
· Senator Clinton made specific mention of sub-populations especially impacted by the epidemic, women and children.
ONE Vote ‘08 applauds Senator Clinton for presenting her plan to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. The new UNAIDS statistics released this past week confirm that the AIDS epidemic is still a crisis that will demand greater resources to beat. Our nation’s next president will be counted on to meet this looming challenge.
November 27th, 2007 at 2:55 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
The head of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, announced major progress in the fight against malaria today. While more than one million people still die from malaria every year, mortality rates for children under 5 have been cut in half in areas of Tanzania and Eritrea in the last five years and rates have also fallen significantly in South Africa, Mozambique and Burundi.
Insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent transmission of the disease, which is caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes.
The Geneva-based Fund announced on Tuesday it had delivered 46 million insecticide-treated bed nets to families at risk of contracting malaria this year, against 18 million last year.
It was working to ensure that all African families are protected with bednets and that countries attain “universal coverage” or at least a 60 percent coverage rate after which child mortality diminishes significantly, Kazatchkine said.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:02 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Last week, citing the use of improved methodologies and better surveillance capabilities, the United Nations released news AIDS figures that place the number of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide at 33.2 million rather than their previous estimate of 39.5 million.
As World AIDS Day approaches this Saturday we expect to see many articles and op-eds mentioning these new stats. A quick excerpt from Sunday New York Times Editorial is below.
“There are, thankfully, glimmers of hope that the epidemic is beginning to wane. The number of new infections peaked in the late 1990s, and the number of people dying from AIDS-related illnesses has declined in the last two years, in part thanks to life-prolonging drug treatments…
But it’s hard to rejoice too much when the number of people living with AIDS infections is still rising, more than two million people mostly in sub-Saharan Africa are still dying from the disease each year, and eight countries in southern Africa have more than 15 percent of their populations infected, a devastating blow to their societies and economies. The revised numbers cannot be used as an excuse to relax the campaign against AIDS.”
You can read the full piece here, and please take this moment to sign up to attend or host a World AIDS Day event in your area.
Below, the key findings from the report, courtesy of ONE’s Josh Lozman:
Global Statistics:
· Number of people (adults and children) with HIV in 2007: 33.2 million (down from 39.5m reported in 2006 report)
· Number of children living with HIV: 2.5 million (increased from 1.5 million in 2001 using re-adjusted figures)
· Newly infected with HIV in 2007: 2.5 million (down from 4.3m reported in 2006 report)
· AIDS deaths in 2007: 2.1 million (down from 2.9m reported in2006 report)
Africa Statistics:
· Number of people living with HIV in 2007 in SSA: 22.5 million (increasing from 20.9 million in 2001 using re-adjusted figures)
· Newly infected with HIV in 2007: 1.7 million (declining from 2.2 million in 2001 using re-adjusted figures)
· AIDS death in 2007: 1.6 million
· Adult HIV prevalence: 5.0% (declined from 5.8% in 2001 using re-adjusted figures)
· Orphans due to AIDS: 11.4 million
Key Notes on Africa:
· AIDS remains the single largest cause of mortality in SSA
· Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for 35% of all people living with HIV and almost one third (32%) on all new HIV infections and AIDS deaths globally in 2007
· Eight countries in SSA have prevalence rates greater than 15%: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe
· Only in Mozambique has there been a recent increase in prevalence.
Notable changes in Africa:
· Uganda’s decline in national HIV prevalence in the 90s has plateaued. Given Uganda’s high fertility rate (6.7), the leveling of prevalence actually points to a significant increase in the number of people acquiring HIV each year.
· In Mozambique, the epidemic has again started to increase in all three zones of the country. Prevalence of 20% or more has been found in the central and southern zones.
· HIV prevalence data in South Africa in this latest round suggests that HIV infection levels might be leveling off with prevalence among pregnant women having decrease from 30% in 2005 to 29% in 2006.
· National prevalence of HIV has declines in Kenya from a high of around 14% in the mid-1990s to 5% in 2006.
Why are the numbers lower?
· The reduction is due to “improvements” in methodology for surveillance and monitoring as well as some success in treatment and prevention.
· Revisions in six countries account for 70% of the shift – Angola, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. In Kenya and Zimbabwe, there is evidence that the decline is due to a reduction in the number of new infections in part due to a reduction in risky behavior.
· A couple different assumptions were used for this estimate. One of them is that the average number of years people are estimated to survive without HIV treatment has been increased from 9 to 11 years.
· Increased sentinel surveillance sites have allowed for better, more precise estimates.
Overall Trends:
· Prevalence has leveled off.
· AIDS is still the leading cause of death in Africa.
· There are 33.2 million people living with HIV, 6800 people becoming infected everyday and over 5700 people dying from AIDS everyday. This is primarily because of inadequate access to HIV prevention and treatment services – these are things we can do something about.
ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo attended a town hall meeting with Sen. Edwards in Rochester, NH, yesterday. In the middle of the meeting, Sen. Edwards started talking about debt relief, fighting AIDS in Africa, and making sure that children in poor and developing countries have access to primary education. He said that not only is it the right and moral thing to do in the world, it also helps improve the image of America around the world.
Michael got it all on tape, and then after, Michael was able to thank Sen. Edwards and take a photo for the blog. Go Michael! Go ONE!
Gov. Mitt Romney and his whole family made it down to the Nashua Winter Holiday Stroll on Saturday night. While holding his grandson Parker Mitt Romney, Gov. Romney shook hands and spoke with NH voters.
After talking with Mayor Rudy Giuliani moments earlier, ONE member Brandon Laws was not done yet and he and his friends made their way through the crowd to speak with Gov. Romney directly too. Brandon told him that he was a member of the ONE Campaign and thanked him for his ideas about reaching out to marginalized countries and expanding basic primary education in Africa. Gov. Romney thanked him and posed for a photo while still holding Parker Mitt.
It may have been a cold night, but ONE members braved the weather to come out and show support for the ONE Campaign and the world’s poorest people.
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, volunteers, members and coalition partners.
The content of each post and each comment represent the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ONE Campaign or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any posts expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
For the last few weeks we have been turning on the heat for the presidential candidates to tell us exactly what, if elected, they would do fight extreme poverty and global disease. 
