What? Who's Talking About Ending Preventable Child Deaths?


May 15, 2012
by Ken Patterson

The May 2012 Global National Conference call was amazing. Amie Baston, Deputy Assistant Administration for USAID Global Health programs was our guest speaker. The title may sound long and…well just long, but her message was inspirational as she spoke about creating a roadmap for ending preventable child deaths. Yes, that’s right, USAID is talking about creating a roadmap to end preventable child deaths! She highlighted the June 14-15 Call to Action meeting in DC being convened by the US, India, Ethiopia, and UNICEF to lay out the plan with other world leaders. This is a pretty amazing moment for RESULTS as child survival is where RESULTS started its work.  Our work will be to “popularize” the child survival effort via the media and community activities. USAID has a great on line community engagement resource in their “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” website, where one can find a lot of resources, and upload a photo from when you were 5 years old.

John Fawcett, Legislative Director, gave some great context on the child survival campaign, highlighting our child survival editorial packet and Monthly Action Sheet on writing a letter to the editor. He also updated us on the Global Fund funding crisis, which no longer seems to be a crisis as they’ve reassessed the amount of money they have for new programs–available funds is now estimated at $1.3 billion plus, and will allow the Global Fund to initiate a new funding cycle later this year (September).

Ken Patterson, Global Grassroots Manager, introduced Alan Neuberg of Bremerton, WA who shared a letter he received from a woman he helped educate. The woman’s life had been transformed by her schooling. Here letter concluded, “You are the best person in the world.” Advocate Roxanne Allen of Albuquerque shared about finding the courage to speak to VP Joe Biden not once, but twice at a public event to make sure that her message about the Global Fund was received. Ken then highlighted how all advocates must play a role in the strategic plan, and went through some important details in the International Conference.

Katy Windschill, Global Grassroots Associate for Expansion, trained us in powerful speaking with the laser talk on reaching out to editorial writers.

 

Explore Related Articles

Stay in action and up-to-date.
Get our Weekly Updates!

This site uses cookies to help personalize content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our cookies.