The football World Cup continues in South Africa and to coincide with the tournament our friends at United Against Malaria have produced a special World Cup edition of their magazine ‘Goal!’
Every 40 seconds, a child in sub-Saharan Africa dies from a mosquito bite. Yet malaria is an entirely preventable and treatable disease with affordable solutions.
United Against Malaria is a partnership of football teams, celebrities, health and advocacy organizations, governments, corporations, and individuals who have united ahead of the World Cup to win the fight against the disease. It’s goal is to galvanize partners throughout the world to reach the United Nations target of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010, a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015.
As well as lots of useful information about malaria GOAL! Also includes an interview with Kolo Toure, member of the Ivory Coast football team and UAM Champion.
In the run up to the football World Cup, which kicks off next month in South Africa, some of Africa’s most renowned musicians have joined the United Nations to call for a commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a set of 8 internationally-agreed goals designed to reduce poverty, hunger, disease, and maternal and child deaths by 2015.
Watch the video here:
The ‘8 Goals for Africa’ song features 8 of Africa’s best known musicians: Yvonne Chaka Chaka from South Africa, Angelique Kidjo from Benin, Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe, Eric Wainaina from Kenya, Baaba Maal from Senegal, and the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. World renowned jazz musicians Hugh Masekela and Jimmy Dludlu from South Africa are also instrumentalists on the track.
Ending extreme poverty by 2015 was the historic promise made by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed up to the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the MDGs by 2015. The MDGs are an 8-point road map with measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. 10 years on, world leaders are meeting again this September in New York to review the progress made and renew their commitment to achieving the goals.
It’s up to all of us to make sure they keep their promise.
While guest editing The Globe and Mail this weekend, ONE co-founder Bob Geldof took a moment to record this message for ONE members in Canada:
Bob talks about why he and Bono guest edited the paper, the importance of the forthcoming G8/G20 summits, and why we need your help to put pressure on the politicians to agree action on maternal and child health, an essential issue in the fight against poverty.
On Tuesday morning the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, went to Buckingham Palace in London to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament formally kicking off the UK General Election campaign.
The election will take place on 6 May and promises to be one of the closest races in years. Regardless of who wins, we want to be sure the British government continues the UK’s tradition of global leadership on international development.
Prior to the election being called ONE launched ONE Vote 2010 to make sure the fight against extreme poverty gets the attention it deserves during the election campaign.
ONE Vote 2010 follows in the footsteps of the ONE Vote ’08 campaign in the US, which both President Obama and Senator McCain supported, along with much of the Senate and Congress. One Vote 08 helped make a real difference in US development policy and we hope ONE Vote 2010 will have a similar impact here in the UK.
Our first step was to get the major UK political parties to go “On the Record” about their plans for fighting extreme poverty. We asked them 6 questions to clarify their intentions, and to try and get the philosophy behind their policies.
On Wednesday afternoon, we delivered our On the Record petition to Downing Street. And the great news is that we’ve now received responses from the 3 parties that are most likely to form the next government, together with other parties across the country.
But that’s just the beginning. In the coming weeks the ONE team in London, together with ONE members around the country will be urging parties and candidates across the political spectrum to join us and vote against extreme poverty.
We’ll update you soon as election day draws nearer!
Earlier this month ONE co-founder Bob Geldof spoke at the UK Department For International Development (DFID) conference on the Millennium Development Goals.
Mobile phone operators from around the world have teamed up with ONE’s partner 1GOAL, in support of universal education at this summer’s football World Cup in South Africa.
The operators, who serve more than 1 billion mobile users, will encourage people to sign up to the campaign, demonstrating to global leaders and the UN that universal education is a universal demand.
Making the announcement in Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress, Her Majesty, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Co-founder and Co-Chair of 1GOAL said:
“I want to thank each and every one of you here today who has joined the 1GOAL team and who’ll reach out to subscribers with a message, an app, or a widget. 1GOAL is about people-power… the largest ever, never-before-done, cause-related campaign of its kind. And I hope that those of you in the mobile ecosystem who haven’t done so, will join up and sign up before our kick-off in April.”
South African football caption Aaron Mokoena, who recently joined ONE in London to talk about the importance of 2010 and the World Cup for Africa, added:
“This will be the year that the mobile fraternity and football joined hands for the greatest of events, and the greatest of causes; Education for all.”
The 1GOAL campaign aims to ensure that the lasting legacy of the football World Cup next year in South Africa is that every child can be learning in school by 2015.
Dr Gebreab Barnabas, Head of the Regional Health Bureau in Tigray province, talked to ONE recently about a primary health care programme that has been running in Ethiopia.
The scheme, which started 5 years ago, involves the training 30,000 female health extension workers nationally, including 1,800 in Tigray. Supported by the Ethiopian government, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNICEF and other partners, it also involves the building of more than 3000 heath centres.
Programmes such as this help put health care in the hands of the local community. Not only is primary health care less costly, but its impact can be huge. By eliminating the risk of the disease it helps reduce the costs of diagnosis, treatment and follow up.
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