Sen. Bill Frist M.D.

The confirmation hearings for former Senator Tom Daschle’s nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services are currently underway. Just moments ago, former Senator Bob Dole mentioned Daschle’s work around ONE Vote ’08 as an example of Daschle’s dedication to healthcare both at home and abroad.

Click below for a clip of Bob Dole’s remarks, and check out some background information on Senator Tom Daschle here.

Bob Dole:

He also worked on another bipartisan effort with another former Senate majority leader, Senator Bill Frist on the ONE Vote ’08 Campaign addressing health and poverty in developing countries. As most of you know, Senator Daschle has spent a good part of his career focused on healthcare.

-Chris Scott

Today the New York Times ran an op-ed advocating for the incoming administration to adopt the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as a central tool for development. The article explains that “The long-term engagement with the United States that is required for any country to earn a Millennium Challenge Corporation compact provides a platform for the kind of robust diplomacy that President-elect Obama has embraced. As he seeks to adapt American foreign assistance to a transformed world, one decisive step he can take is to signal his strong support of the corporation’s approach to global development.”

The piece, authored by the four non-government board members of the MCC (Lorne Craner, Bill Frist, Kenneth Hackett, and Alan Patricof), posits that the kind of aid MCC delivers – long-term aid given based on a clear set of indicators for projects defined by the recipient country, in which the recipient country takes responsibility for their development – works best. It also cites examples of the ‘MCC effect’; the idea that countries who are not yet compact-eligible will work independently to better their indicators due to the incentive of becoming eligible for large-scale support and funding.

We’ll continue to keep you updated about the position of the MCC within the new administration.

-Beth Adler, ONE Policy Analyst

At September’s special United Nation’s Summit, we had a chance to show a short video to a group of world leaders at the Secretary General’s reception. The film – “Celebrate, Accelerate” – marks the progress on the Millennium Development Goals to date and encourages further, faster commitments going forward.

Hope you enjoy it!

-Weldon Kennedy

I’m watching the RNC tonight where Senator Frist, Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08, just gave a speech that spoke directly to many of ONE’s issues. Some highlights below, the full script after the jump.

“Health builds trust ,and health bridges divides. That’s why America’s investment in medical diplomacy is a long-term investment in national security. Health is a currency for peace.

I’m proud to tell you that it was a Republican president and a Republican-led Congress that launched our nation’s historic initiative to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in the world’s poorest countries — the greatest global health commitment in history.

Has it made a difference? Oh yes! In just six years, the number of Africans on life-saving treatment jumped from 50,000 to over 2 million! The incidence of malaria has been slashed by two-thirds in some countries. Today, 20 million more children are in school.

But much work remains to be done.

HIV/AIDS continues to hollow out entire generations of people at the prime of their lives. It’s easy for people to lose hope.

And when they do, the vacuum is filled with desperation, instability, and – yes, the seeds of terrorism.”

“we can be the generation to make extreme poverty… history.”

(more…)

Video of our service project at the RNCC on Tuesday is now up in its full form! (Short highlight clips were posted here earlier.)

Check out the full remarks from ONE CEO David Lane, Zambian AIDS activist Princess Zulu, Senator Bill Frist, M.D., Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush.

Some posts from our service project at the DNCC here and here

In between today’s 2 ONE panels at the RNCC, Gov. Huckabee spoke about his experience with ONE on the campaign trail and his time traveling on a bipartisan delegation to Rwanda with ONE earlier this summer.

(As I said previously, I didn’t have a tripod of any kind, so if shaky camera movement gives you a headache, you may just want to listen to the footage for now until we have the professional video done and up in the next few days.)

First, Gov. Huckabee talks about ONE:

Next, Gov. Huckabee introduces this clip, a video made especially for the RNCC about Senator Frist, Michael Gerson and Gov. Huckabee in Rwanda:

And then back to the governor:

I grabbed some video with a tiny handheld camera at this morning’s ONE panels at the RNCC. Better quality footage will show up later, but I want to share some highlights with you now.

The first clip below is of Senator Frist introducing the panel and speakers. The second clip is of Michael Gerson talking about his experience crafting PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief).

I didn’t have a tripod of any kind sadly, so if shaky camera movements remind you too much of the Blair Witch Project- you can hold off a couple days until we have the full footage available.

I just returned from another phenomenal ONE/World Vision service project. As at the DNCC last week – David Lane and Zambian AIDS activist Princess Zulu introduced the event, but this time we also heard moving remarks from special guests Senator Frist, Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush.

I captured video of Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush’s speeches and quickly uploaded them to YouTube. You can check them out below. We got higher quality video of the speeches as well, but it may take a couple days to get that up – and I want to share this experience with ONE Blog readers ASAP.

First, Cindy McCain:

Next, First Lady Laura Bush. (You can also read her full remarks here.)

Here’s a photo of (from left to right) Cindy McCain, David Lane, First Lady Laura Bush, Princess Zulu and Senator Frist assembling care kits.

In the course of a couple hours we packed 2,500 kits, all with simple but essentials supplies like flashlights, wash clothes and basic drugstore medications, to be given out to AIDS caregivers around the world. Below is a very short video clip to give you a sense of the what it was like to be in room at the height of kit-assembly commotion.

-Virginia Simmons

I’m feet down in Minneapolis waiting to gain access to the ONE Bus at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Just like at the DNCC, ONE will partner with WorldVision to host a service project. If you’re in Minneapolis/St. Paul, it’s going to be at CivicFest (the Minneapolis Convention Center) today from 2-5pm in Ballroom B. Confirmed attendees include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and McCain family and friends.

Like last week’s event, volunteers will be able to help assemble kits for AIDS caregivers around the world, but today volunteers will also be able to help with WorldVision’s recovery efforts around the Gulf in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.

If you want to help with Hurricane Gustav recovery as well, you can find more information on World Vison’s website.

I’m heading over to the ONE Bus now. More updates in just a few minutes.

-Virginia Simmons

When the Democratic and Republican parties meet for their conventions at the end of August and early September, they’ll be unveiling their parties’ new platforms – and we want to make sure that the fight against extreme poverty is an important part of both of those platforms.

That why our ONE Vote ‘08 Co-Chairs, Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle will be meeting with leaders of both parties, and taking a petition from ONE members urging them to make poverty-fighting a priority for both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Click this link and we’ll add your name to the petition

Petition Text:

As a proud American, I urge you to make ending extreme poverty and global disease in the developing world a core part of your 2008 platform by including commitments to:

• Fight AIDS, TB and malaria and improve basic health services, particularly for mothers and young children
• Ensure access to clean water, basic sanitation and sufficient food supplies
• Spur economic growth through equitable trade and investment policies
• Modernize and increase development assistance, focusing on partnership, transparency and accountability
• Achieve universal primary education