Rotary International is teaming up with violin virtuoso and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman and the world-renowned New York Philharmonic to present the Concert to End Polio, a benefit performance supporting the global effort to eradicate this disabling and sometimes fatal childhood disease.

Polio eradication resonates strongly with Mr. Perlman, who contracted the disease at age four and overcame serious physical challenges to become one of the world’s most celebrated musicians. Mr. Perlman is a winner of 15 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. In this historic, one-night-only performance Perlman will help Rotary in its effort to raise $200 million to match a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All of the money raised will fund critical eradication activities in countries where polio still threatens children.

Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched an initiative to make polio only the second disease to be eradicated. At the time (1988), there were 350,000 polio cases a year. Last year, there were less than 2,000. Worldwide, the number of polio cases has been slashed by 99 percent, preventing five million cases of childhood paralysis and 250,000 deaths. However, the final one percent of cases is the most difficult and expensive to prevent.

The one-night-only performance will be held on 2 December at 7:30 p.m. in New York City.
Learn how you can help at rotary.org/endpolio or purchase tickets for this historic event at nyphil.org/perlman.

-Petina Dixon, Rotary International

This morning, I joined a 12-year-old Ugandan soccer star, a giant mosquito and the commissioner of Major League Soccer, among many others, for breakfast at the ESPN Zone in Times Square for the U.S. launch of the United Against Malaria campaign.

As covered before on the ONE Blog, United Against Malaria is an effort that aims to kick the world into high gear to beat malaria by leveraging soccer and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Like any good squad, United Against Malaria is fielding a versatile group of players, including soccer stars, government officials, celebrities, corporations and NGOs, including ONE.

Many people representing this diverse partnership were at today’s launch, but perhaps the biggest star was the smallest person in the room. Charles Ssali, a 12-year-old soccer player from Uganda, is the “global emissary” for United Against Malaria. Charles wears number five for his local youth team in Uganda and has played in tournaments as far away as Sweden and Denmark. Charles is also a malaria survivor and has seen the disease impact his community and friends firsthand. Ever since recovering from malaria at age four, Charles has slept under a bed net and told his friends to do the same. Now he’s taking the message that he tells his friends on the soccer fields of his native Uganda—that you can stop malaria with simple, effective solutions—all over the world with the United Against Malaria team.

In addition to today’s launch in New York City, Charles will be launching the effort in Brussels, Addis Ababa and Cape Town. When I talked to him after the event and told him that’s a lot of travel for a little guy, he flashed his big smile at me and said he’s really enjoying his first trip to New York City, he’s excited to travel to Brussels next, but he is most looking forward to Johannesburg, where he’ll see the World Cup.

Beyond Charles, other big names from the soccer world spoke this morning, including Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and Fox Soccer Channel’s lead announcer Max Bretos. Both discussed how the sport, probably the most popular in the world, and its biggest moment, the World Cup, have the potential to tap into a huge audience. It’s an audience—sports fans, youth soccer players, soccer moms and dads—who may not yet fully know the malaria story, but who have the potential to be passionate, engaged advocates once they see malaria can be beat.

From the NGO world, ONE’s own U.S. Executive Director Sheila Nix and Malaria No More’s Chairman Peter Chernin discussed how United Against Malaria can mobilize this new audience into effective political advocacy. The ultimate aim is to catalyze the world to reach the international target of reducing malaria deaths to near zero by 2015. It’s a goal that is within reach. Sheila and Peter pointed out the tremendous gains that have been achieved in just the last few years thanks to African leadership supported by effective U.S. and international efforts like the President’s Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund. Malaria rates have been slashed in countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia. But if we want to finish the deal and finally end deaths from malaria, these programs will need continued support. Sheila and Peter said United Against Malaria can play a pivotal role by making the connection clear for the public about how contacting your member of Congress to support effective programs will result in lives saved.

Finally, two more critical leaders, Ray Chambers, the United Nations’ Special Envoy for Malaria, and Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the United Methodist Church talked about how all this progress is being forged on the ground level in Africa with proven tools like bed nets, malaria treatment and better public awareness. Both spoke eloquently on the power of individuals such as Charles to make a difference in this fight, including both advocates like ONE members in the United States and community leaders in Africa raising awareness of effective prevention measures.

And now with United Against Malaria officially kicked off in the United States, there is only one thing missing from the team: you. The good news is that there are no tryouts (especially for me and my rusty soccer skills). All you need is a belief that in the next five years, deaths from malaria must end, and a voice to recruit your friends and press your elected officials. Be sure to follow the rest of Charles’s journey and join the United Against Malaria team at www.unitedagainstmalaria.com.

Global Health Magazine just posted this interesting interview with Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. In it he discusses the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at length as well as the Obama Administration’s plans for combating the global AIDS epidemic.

Excerpt below, full interview here

Q: What are you spending most of your time on now?

Goosby: The main focus has been in understanding what we’ve done in the first five years in the PEPFAR programs (and) in each location how our response in both prevention and treatment do or do not relate to the demographics of the epidemic in each of these settings. In each city, there are multiple epidemics. Each has their own population, and movement of the virus through that population. And we’re looking at how well our prevention programs understand that movement of the virus, and if they have indeed positioned themselves in front of it.

A second focus … has been appreciating the complexity of our partnering network within the country, in the NGO community in particular. It’s been astonishing to see how well we have done in urban populations.

But now the fragility of these health systems is what I’m most concerned about it. They are as fragile as the NGO who is involved in the delivery, and that is dependent on continued resources from us to support them in that effort.

Ready to help kick malaria out of Africa? Then make sure to check out United Against Malaria’s (UAM) new website.

Soccer stars, foundations, governments, and corporations are all joining forces ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to unite against malaria. And don’t forget the NGOs, too, including UAM’s founding partners ONE, PATH, Malaria No More, Roll Back Malaria, Comic Relief, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Population Services International and the United Nations Foundation, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. By leveraging soccer—one of the most popular sports in the world—UAM aims to raise global awareness and renew worldwide commitment to ending malaria.

So what can you do to join in the cause? Visit the UAM website and sign the virtual soccer ball to show your support. Read all the latest news on the UAM blog (don’t miss the behind-the-scenes post with U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team Captain Landon Donovan), play the “World Cup Soccer Challenge: Kick Malaria” game on Facebook, even add a UAM twibbon (a colorful football) to the bottom of your twitter avatar. Check out their new site today!

On Friday, President Obama announced that the U.S. will overturn its 22-year-old ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by HIV-positive people.

In early July, we let you know that the HIV travel ban was set to be lifted through a change issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), noting that public comments were being requested and that a final rule would be issued later in the year. We are happy to report back that the change has been approved, and the ban will be officially lifted at the beginning of the New Year.

Of the new regulation, President Obama said, “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic-yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering our own country.” He continued, “If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it.” Obama also thanked former President George W. Bush, for approving the initial steps to repeal the ban last summer. Obama’s comments came during a signing ceremony to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, which provides medical care and support to about 500,000 mostly low-income and uninsured people living with HIV/AIDS.

Today, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria announced the largest single malaria initiative ever signed by the Global Fund, which will provide the resources for 30 million bed-nets in Nigeria. Each year, there are approximately 57 million cases of malaria in Nigeria, causing an estimated 225,000 deaths annually. Check out the full press release here.

As part of its efforts to eliminate malaria, Nigeria aims to place two bed nets in every household in the country by distributing 62 million bed nets by December 2010. Global Fund grants will provide half of this total. Other contributors include: the World Bank, DFiD, USAID, UNITAID, UNICEF and the Nigerian government.

“I am extremely pleased that our partnership with Nigeria continues to grow: it shows Nigeria’s strong commitment to fight malaria, and strengthens our relationship since Nigeria is also a Global Fund donor,” said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Nigeria is showing why reaching global targets for malaria is no longer fanciful but something that can actually be achieved,” he said.

The malaria grants signed today amount to US$ 285 million over two years. The Global Fund used a flexible approach by signing, in July 2009, an interim agreement to allow for the timely distribution of 3.4 millions bed nets, which have just arrived in country in time for the mass distribution campaign planned for December this year. Two other grants were also signed, one for tuberculosis for US$40 million and one for Health Systems Strengthening for US$55 million.

Along with the great infographics we’ve been writing about on the ONE Blog, the Living Proof Project has also produced some great photo essays. Each one tells a story and really illustrates the topic in ways words alone often can’t.

This gallery I thought was particularly striking. It follows Kevin who is HIV-positive and works at a health center in Dimbokro, Cote d’Ivoire.

Check it out by clicking the image below:

In the global health world, we often hear discussion of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis – but what about the other diseases that fly under the radar? According to the Global Health Progress initiative, “More than one billion people around the world are afflicted with one or more neglected diseases, and this topic is of critical importance to US foreign aid and global health policy.”

The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development took on this issue of neglected diseases last Friday at their daylong event, “Neglected Diseases in the Developing World: Progress, Current Challenges and Promising Approaches.” Held in the Dirksen Senate Building, the event featured a distinguished group of speakers, including representatives from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institute of Health (NIH), Duke University, BIO Ventures for Global Health and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Christopher Milner, Associated Director of the Tufts Center for Drug Development, started the morning by introducing Mary Moran, Director of the Health Policy Division of the George Institute. Ms. Moran spoke about the issue of obtaining global funding for research and development to treat neglected diseases. She explained that many countries and organizations are participating in the development of new neglected disease products, which is a welcome and relatively new phenomenon. However, there is a dire need, particularly during the economic crisis, for the broadening of funding efforts so that all diseases receive the attention they deserve.

Joshua Cohen of the Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development also took the floor to discuss progress in neglected disease drug development. Mr. Cohen emphasized that financial support for neglected disease research is very lopsided, with the majority of funding flowing into HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. He also stressed that a comprehensive approach to addressing neglected diseases should include not only effective drug development, but also attention to health infrastructure, affordability, and improved accessibility.

The morning ended with a panel discussion in which public and private sector experts discussed how to prioritize and facilitate the discovery and development of new medical products for neglected diseases. The panelists also highlighted public health impacts and current efforts to address this global threat.

The event provided a unique opportunity to hear leaders from a variety of fields share their views on both the progress and challenges surrounding the development and distribution of products for combating neglected diseases in the developing world.

-Robyn Mitchell, Hallie Tosher, & Jen Fraser

Remember to tune in to the season premiere of “Ugly Betty” tonight at 8 PM EST on ABC. The episode will feature Nothing But Nets and a plot-line involving the eradication of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Here’s a short interview with America Ferrera on this morning’s Good Morning America discussing the season premiere and Nothing But Nets. You can learn more about the episodehere.

This Saturday, October 17th, multiplatinum selling band Third Day will be performing at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The band has generously offered to let ONE set up booths to sign up new ONE members and build our growing movement of dedicated individuals like you, working to end global poverty.

If you live in the area, and would like to volunteer with ONE, please sign up here. People who join ONE that night will also be invited to a special acoustic session with the band after the concert where people can come and learn how to be more involved in the fight against extreme poverty.

Here are the details:

When:
Saturday, Oct. 17. Arrive at 5:30PM

Where:
Freedom Hall at the KY Expo Center
937 Phillips Lane
Louisville, KY 40233