I love when design firms make things that can help save lives. Beattie McGuiness Bungay, a creative agency in New York, came up with an innovative concept to educate new mothers about health issues and keep their babies safe and warm: the Information Blanket.
I — along with many of my colleagues at ONE — was shocked and saddened to learn that Bwalya Liteta — the 12-year-old girl featured in the recent HBO documentary “The Lazarus Effect” — passed away on August 14th.
As many of you may have seen from our sister organization (RED)‘s website, Bwalya was an HIV-positive child who had lost both her parents. (RED) first met her in May 2009 and filmed her recovery from near death to robust health with the help of antiretroviral treatment (ARVs).
Everyone who met her in the filming process was inspired by her quiet determination, and many of us at ONE felt personally compelled by the simple joy she exuded as she was finally feeling better and able to return to school with her friends.
“The Lazarus Effect” highlighted the miracle of antiretroviral drugs in restoring the health of people living with HIV/AIDS. But even when treated, AIDS can be a physically devastating disease — especially for young children.
This year, we’ve been campaigning for the full replenishment of the Global Fund. If fully funded, the Global Fund — along with other bilateral AIDS efforts — can ensure that no child is born with HIV by 2015 and make certain that little girls like Bwalya never need to become infected in the first place.
Her story should compel us — including world leaders — to be bold in our efforts to make this goal achievable.
Last month, to celebrate World Health Day, a group of organizations and activists launched an effort to encourage the United Nations to declare November 2nd as World Pneumonia Day. Pneumonia which is the leading killer of children around the world taking upwards of 2 million lives of children under 5 every year is rarely discussed in the media as a childhood killer and is often thought of only as a disease of the elderly. In communities around the world, it is often unrecognized and untreated – and simple cases become more severe and more costly to treat. Save the Children Artist Ambassador, Hugh Laurie, commented, “I work on a TV show that features the unusual, the bizarre, the unique. But the cases on House are brightly-colored minnows compared to the leviathan of pneumonia. It’s so big, you couldn’t make a TV show about it. But you could change it. So could I. We can and must change it.”
There is good news on pneumonia on both the prevention and treatment fronts. The advent of new and not so new vaccines being increasingly integrated into immunization programs around the world is critical. GAVI is at the forefront of promoting the integration of these newer vaccines which are effective against two of the leading causes of pneumonia. And, on the treatment side, the increasing recognition of community health workers as a key component of the strategy to more quickly diagnose and provide antibiotic treatment for cases of pneumonia when they do occur is vital to reducing pneumonia deaths. These prevention and treatment efforts have the potential to dramatically cut pneumonia deaths around the
world.
If you want to see the devastating effect of pneumonia on a young child and the simple solution, you can click on the link below to see the story of Karunesh, an Ethiopian infant, lucky enough to have a dedicated and trained community health worker near her village. And Karunesh’s story is just one of thousands of children’s whose lives are being saved thanks to simple diagnosis and treatment protocols that are being integrated into the training of community health workers in numerous countries around the world.
Finally, the coalition of pneumonia fighters has some new allies – Hedgefunds against Malaria has now become Hedgefunds against Malaria and Pneumonia and they are educating their membership and friends about the toll of these diseases.
More information about pneumonia and the work of organizations trying to stop it dead in its tracks is available at www.worldpneumoniaday.org
-Mary Beth Powers, Survive to 5 Campaign Chief, Save the Children USA
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.
