Fwd: United Nations Millennium Campaign, North America "Millennium Development Goals Newsletter" - August 2, 2010

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Kathryn Horvat

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Aug 15, 2010, 6:31:47 PM8/15/10
to E4GR
I am forwarding this to the group, since it has lots of information about upcoming events related to the MDG's, as well as information about how people can get involved.
Kathy Horvat, Utah

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From: Alison Gemgnani <AGem...@unfoundation.org>
Date: August 3, 2010 6:54:16 AM MDT
Subject: United Nations Millennium Campaign, North America "Millennium Development Goals Newsletter" - August 2, 2010

North America Millennium Development Goals Newsletter

 
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UN Millennium Campaign North America Millennium Development Goals Newsletter - August 2, 2010.pdf
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Aline Haynes

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Aug 16, 2010, 1:45:47 PM8/16/10
to Kathryn Horvat, E4GR

Thank you so much for your email.  I’ve forwarded it and the Newsletter all around our Diocese to people involved in our MDG Task Force, etc.  I am so hoping we can get Churches to “Make a Noise for the MDGs” on Sunday, Sept. 19th.  We’re still trying to figure out what to do for this noise making.  Have any of you come up with a plan of what you’ll do?  I would love to have ideas.  I had the idea of banging pots and pans, having the Church bells rung, and parading around outside the Church after one of our services with banners to End Poverty 2015, etc. etc. but that idea hasn’t caught on and so I need other ideas.  Please email if you have any thoughts of what we can do as a Parish and as a Diocese.  Many thanks,

Aline Haynes

Trinity Church

Princeton, NJ

 

hayne...@gmail.com

 

Rena Turnham

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Aug 18, 2010, 2:41:41 PM8/18/10
to Kathryn Horvat, E4GR
Thanks much Kathy, and thanks to all that have shared their stories thus far (keep them coming!).  It helps us all to see what is happening out there, to be inspired by one another and see some fresh ideas. It also helps EGR look ahead to see how we might be of support in your efforts! 
Rena Turnham

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Covering Information from
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 – Monday, August 2, 2010
On the eve of the United Nations MDG Review Summit in New York, “Stand Up, Take Action: Make Noise for the MDGs” will take place around the world from Friday, September 17 to Sunday, September 19; last year over 173 million people participated. "Stand Up" is a global mobilization effort that allows citizens to collectively voice demands to their leaders to come to the MDG Review Summit prepared with an action plan to achieve the MDGs. This year, "Noise" will be generated in every form (i.e. drums, bells, singing, stomping) around the world as a powerful signal to leaders that we will not remain silent in support of the MDGs. events can To learn more about the Stand Up, Take Action: Make Noise for the MDGs, to register your event and to see what events are occurring in your community, visit www.standagainstpoverty.org or email Leanne Rios (Leann...@undp.org).
The United Nations Millennium Campaign, North America has created a page on Facebook to serve as a forum for discussion on progress towards the MDGs in the United States and Canada. Keep up-to-date on information in the lead-up to the UN MDG Review Summit in September by “liking” us and sharing information on what your organization is doing.

Please forward this newsletter to your networks and listservs. With the UN MDG Review Summit quickly approaching, it is increasingly important to for our community to share information on the MDGs. Should you have content and/or events to highlight, please email Alison Gemgnani at agem...@unfoundation.org. 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Canada should contribute five per cent of the $20 billion needed over the next three years to replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This sum only represents about $10 per Canadian per year - less than the price of a movie ticket.”
– Richard Elliott, Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
UNITED STATES
On Friday, July 30, the Obama Administration unveiled the United States’ Strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 28 page document commits the United States to the MDGs and promises to "raise the profile of development in [the United States’] diplomatic engagement with strategic allies as well as in multilateral forums.” The strategy comes at a crucial time for international diplomacy around the MDGs. In September, President Obama will meet with heads of state at the United Nations for a High-Level Summit on the MDGs. The summit will result in an outcome document that spells out the ways in which countries around the world are committing themselves to achieving the eight anti-poverty and health goals by the 2015 target date.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Education is the Key Missing Link: The Brookings Institution, July 30 (MDG 2)

According to David Gartner, Co-Director of the Center for Global Education at The Brookings Institution, the Obama Administration’s Millennium Development Goal Strategy includes useful ideas on tracking development outcomes and increasing transparency and accountability; however, it represents a missed opportunity to deliver on Obama’s commitment to invest $2 billion in a Global Fund for Education. With 72 million children still not in primary school, Gartner argues that achieving universal education would offer extraordinary leverage in the broader fight against global poverty.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) discusses the new legislation he introduced, The HIV/AIDS Save Lives First Act of 2010, which – in his opinion – renews the United States’ commitment to providing life-saving treatment to millions of AIDS patients. Senator Coburn argues that the legislation: (a) increases the percentage of US bilateral funding that must go directly toward treating patients; (b) limits the administrative overhead of both government agencies and recipients of funding; and, (c) requires funding recipients to be more cost-effective. “In these difficult economic times every dollar not spent saving a life or preventing a new infection is a dollar misspent,” says Senator Coburn.
CANADA

AIDS Fight Needs to be Two-Pronged: Edmonton Journal, August 1 (MDG 6)

According to Richard Elliott, Executive Director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Canada’s approach to the fight against AIDS must be two-pronged. First, he maintains that Canada should contribute five percent of the $20 billion needed over the next three years to replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, representing about $10 per Canadian per year. Secondly, he urges parliamentarians to pass Bill C- 393, currently before committee, to streamline Canada's Access to Medicines Regime, which supports exports of lower-cost, generic medicines to developing countries.

The Provinces Step in to Fight Climate Change: The Globe and Mail, August 1 (MDG 7)

The Western Climate Initiative – a collaboration of independent jurisdictions working together to identify, evaluate and implement policies to tackle climate change at a regional level – unveiled its plan for a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions, which is expected to be launched in 2012. The system is intended to reduce climate-change-causing carbon emissions by 15 per cent from 2007 levels by 2020. The preference is for a North America-wide system, but in the absence of federal leadership, some provinces and states are starting their own scheme.  Four provinces – Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba – and a few US states are expected to take part.
On July 22, Minister for International Cooperation Bev Oda announced the Partnerships with Canadians Program as the next step in “Canada’s aid effectiveness agenda.” The new approach aims to increase aid effectiveness, reduce administrative burdens on its partner NGOs and engage more Canadians through a Global Citizens Program. “The aims of the initiative are laudable, but the outcomes are disappointing,” argues Gerry Barr, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) representing 90 Canadian non-profit organizations.
UNITED NATIONS AND AROUND THE WORLD
Rethinking Health Assumptions: IRIN, August 2 (MDGs 4, 5 & 6)
New research is challenging conventional medical wisdom, forcing health workers and governments in cash-strapped countries to confront new risks and rethink old ones. IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, examines what has been accepted as medical truths - until now. Traditionally, anti-malarials would be used a the first sign of fever; however, with the advent of rapid diagnostic testing for malaria in recent years, health workers can now confirm the infection within minutes. Accordingly, in March 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) changed its guidelines to require diagnostic confirmation before treatment for patients of all ages.
A new diagnostic tool that reduces the time needed to detect drug-resistant tuberculosis to two hours must be made available to populations vulnerable to the disease, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert indicated. "New diagnostic tools offer the opportunity to increase the sensitivity of TB diagnosis in general and to shorten the diagnosis [Multidrug-Resistant TB] from eight weeks to two hours," remarked Catharina van Weezenbeek, Regional Adviser on TB for WHO in the Western Pacific region.
With 122 nations in favor, none against and 41 abstentions, the United Nations passed a resolution declaring access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. Abstaining countries said the resolution could undermine a process at the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights. The resolution urges the international community to "scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all." Every year, approximately 1.5 million children under five die from water and sanitation-related diseases.
Putting Women at Forefront of AIDS Fight is Crucial: The Huffington Post, July 28 (MDGs 3 & 6)
Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, maintains that the increasing feminization of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa requires that preventative measures address the realities driving unsafe behaviors. Today, in the nine hardest-hit African countries, young women are nearly three times as likely as young men to be HIV positive. According to Coleman, a big part of the problem is that in societies where women have low status and enjoy few rights, they have little opportunity to practice safe sex.
Africa Must Focus on Maternal Health: Agence France-Presse, July 28 (MDG 5)
During a visit to Sierra Leone, where maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, former Irish president Mary Robinson urged African leaders to boost support for maternal health. "If the African Union succeeds in fulfilling its commitment to maternal health, it will benefit the economies of countries to have healthy populations," she said. Robinson was on a two-day visit to observe implementation of a $90 million initiative to provide free health care for pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under-five launched in April.

UN Agency Chief Pledges Support for Africa’s Efforts to Boost Food Security: UN News Center, July 27 (MDG 1 & 7)

Addressing leaders gathered in Kampala, Uganda at the African Union Summit, World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Josette Sheeran pledged the UN’s support in helping African countries combat hunger and malnutrition, as well as enabling the continent to feed itself. Sheeran also stressed the many benefits offered by food-based social protection programs. “When designed right, social protection programs such as school meals, food-for-education and food-for-work are foundations for not just beating hunger and malnutrition, but also drivers for agricultural development and faster economic growth,” she argued.
REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS
The Countdown to 2015 Initiative tracks health interventions proven to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality. The 2010 Report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides data from the 68 countries accounting for at least 95 percent of maternal and child deaths. It produces country profiles that present coverage data for a range of key health services, including: contraceptive use; antenatal care; skilled attendance at delivery; postnatal care; child health; financial investments in maternal, newborn and child health; and, equity of access, health systems and policy. The 2010 report reviews progress over 2000–2010.
MDG COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Local Authorities in Action for the Millennium Development Goals: United Cities, Local Governments, July 30
On 17-19 September, the weekend prior to the United Nations MDG Review Summit (also known as the High-Level Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)), millions of people around the world will mobilize to demand concrete actions for the achievement of the MDGs. Because local and regional authorities are in a position to raise understanding among their citizens and to mobilize their communities, United Cities and Local Governments and the United Nations Millennium Campaign are calling on them around the world to join this global movement. They are being provided with a toolkit with information that will ensure that their commitment to the MDGs – and the voice of their citizens – are visible before the Summit. Please follow-up with your local authorities to ensure action is being taken.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched an online campaign calling on national and international leaders to make the elimination of hunger their top priority. “The 1billionhungry project” aims to attract one million signatures to a petition that will be presented to world leaders during an official ceremony at the UN in October. "We should be extremely angry for the outrageous fact that that our fellow human beings continue to suffer from hunger," declared FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.
REMINDERS
Events by UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, Permanent Missions, the private sector and other partners are expected to be held in and around the United Nations in New York before and during the Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 20-22 September 2010. You are invited to submit information on your proposed event using the online form. The information you provide will enable information sharing among partners and with the public on all planned partnership events associated with the Summit and facilitate a coordinated approach. At the conclusion of the Summit, a compilation of partnership events, together with a brief description of outcomes and any commitments, based on the submissions using the online form, will be issued.
The United Nations will launch a free iPhone application allowing you to check the progress towards meeting the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2000 world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty by 2015. This September, world leaders will reconvene to establish a plan of action to accelerate progress.
The United Nations Foundation and Devex teamed up to launch a global dialogue on “Making the Millennium Development Goals Happen.” The upcoming discussion focuses on MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality. The forum is intended to serve as a resource for development professionals around the world to discuss, debate, and celebrate progress to date on the MDGs, and to facilitate recommendations for the achievement of the Goals over the next five years. Development professionals are encouraged to join the MDG-related discussion.
The "Day 1" national radio program hosted by Peter Wallace aired a special four-part series examining global hunger through a Christian social justice perspective, in order to spark increased awareness and support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) among people of faith. The four series aired on June 13th (Hodding Carter III), 20th (Rev. Dr. Barbara Lundblad), 27th (David Beckmann) and July 4th (Right Rev Michael Curry). A special capstone address with President Jimmy Carter will air on September 12th.
UPCOMING EVENTS
August 23 – 27: World Youth Conference Mexico 2010, León Guanajuato, Mexico
August 30 – September 1: 63rd Annual United Nations DPI/NGO Conference, Melbourne, Australia
September 17 – 19: Stand Up, Take Action: Make a Noise for the MDGs, Worldwide
September 20 – 22: United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit, New York, New York
November 11 – 12: G20 Summit, Seoul, South Korea

The 8 Millennium Development Goals
Alison Gemgnani
Editorial and Advocacy Consultant
United Nations Millennium Campaign
1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
202-887-9040 (p)
202-887-9021 (f)


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