Global Weekly Update March 15, 2010

Take Action! Ask Reps and Senators to Sign Letters Supporting FY11 Funding! Deadlines This Week!

We have some really time sensitive, excellent sign-on letter for your reps and senators to sign on to:

House Microfinance Letter

Ask representatives to sign a letter initiated by Reps. Holt (D-NJ) and Reichert (R-WA) supporting $500 million for microfinance in the FY11 budget. Deadline: March 17. To sign on, contact Will O’Neal in Rep. Holt’s office at 225-5801. See if your rep. signed the FY10 letter and ask them to sign this one!

House Global Fund Letter

Ask representatives to sign a letter initiated by Reps. Lee (D-CA) and Payne (D-NJ) supporting $1.75 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in the FY11 budget. *Look to see if your rep signed a similiar letter from Rep. Lee to President Obama (below). Deadline: March 17. To sign on, contact Christos Tsentas in Rep. Lee’s office at 225-2661. See if your rep signed a similiar letter from Rep. Lee to President Obama.

House and Senate TB letters coming soon!

Check your e-mails and visit our appropriations issue page.

Invite Your Newspaper: TB Media Conference Call on March 23

On March 23 at 12:00 pm ET, the World Health Organization will be releasing a new report on the deadly airborne killer — multidrug-resistant TB. The release of this report is the most comprehensive report to date on MDR-TB and presents the greatest opportunity we have for media coverage on TB this year. Participants will be:

• Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director, Stop TB Department, World Health Organization

• Dr. Tom Frieden, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (to be confirmed)

• Dr. Joanne Carter, Board member, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Executive Director, RESULTS Educational Fund

Editors and journalists can join by dialing (877) 578-0255 or (706) 758-7334 and then enter passcode 62983970 at 12 pm ET on Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

Download the media advisory in Word, PDF

For more information, contact Blair Hinderliter (x126).

RESULTS NW Regional Conference a Success!

RESULTS activists from Alaska, Calgary, Victoria, Washington state, and even North Carolina came together to share stories, skills, and successes. Many were “old timers” who have attended for years and were happy to catch up with friends from past conferences. Several were “newbies,” but the more seasoned RESULTS activists welcomed them like long-lost relatives. Read more about the great gathering — maybe it will inspire your regional groups to also spend a weekend together!

Dr. Joanne Carter Testifies Before House Foreign Affairs Committee!

On Thursday, March 11, Joanne Carter, the executive director of RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Africa and Global Health Subcommittee as an expert witness on the U.S. response to HIV/AIDS, TB and TB-HIV, and the Global to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. She called on Congress to reverse the administration’s cuts to USAID’s global TB programs and the Global Fund. Read her testimony.

Today, here and now, I would like to thank the American people, I would like to thank Congress, I would like to thank the administration, and you, in particular, Mr. President, as well as your wife, not only for the material aid, but also for the moral support, the psychological support, that helped us realize that we were not alone and that provide us great comfort in our distress.

— Haiti’s President René Garcia Préval, 10 March 2010, in a speech with President Obama at the Rose Garden

March 23: TB Media Conference Call

March 24: World TB Day.

March 27–April 13: Congressional recess.

April–May: New Activist Orientation. Four sessions: April 5, April 19, May 3, May 17. Call (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Contact Lisa Marchal to sign up and for more information.

April 6–10: Microcredit Summit Campaign Africa and Middle East Regional Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.

April 10: Global Conference Call. 2:00 pm ET. Call in at (888) 409-6709.

April 19–23: Global Campaign for Education Global Action Week.

June 20–22: International Conference, Washington, DC.