|
|
|
|
Dear Friends,
Last week, more than 600 global
health leaders from around the world gathered in Washington for the Acting on the Call forum to accelerate progress in ensuring every child survives and thrives.
Co-hosted with the Governments of Ethiopia and India and in collaboration with UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, the forum advanced the child and maternal survival agenda launched two years ago at the Call to Action.
We heard from leaders like
Dr. Kesetebirhan Admasu of Ethiopia and Dr. Harsh Vardhan of India about how nations have stepped forward to lead this
movement with energy, focus, and results-oriented action plans. With this leadership, we have been able to mobilize new
resources, technical expertise, and robust measurement systems to end preventable child deaths. Committed to this global
partnership, our Agency also released a new report detailing how we will align $2.9 billion in 24 priority countries to
save up to half-a-million children. At a reception on the Hill, more than a dozen members of Congress from both sides of
the aisle expressed their enthusiastic support for this mission, advancing our nation's proud legacy of bipartisan
leadership in global health.
On Thursday, I joined Global Citizen and 20,000 activists at a concert with Tiësto to
celebrate progress on child survival and announce that we have doubled our commitment to $40 million this year to the
Global Partnership for Education, which has already put 22 million children in school, including 10 million girls, over
the past decade. Next year, we will work with Congress to increase funding to $50 million if we continue to see results.
Thank you to our many partners from around the world, especially the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the
Blue Ribbon Panel led by Ray Chambers, who have come together to help achieve this great moral aspiration. We know that
the American people take pride in our efforts when we forge strong partnerships, innovate constantly, and deliver
meaningful results.
Best,
Raj Shah
USAID Administrator
|
|
|
|
USAID In the News
|
|
USAID is directing $2.9 billion in funds over two years to 24 countries where mortality is highest, dropping projects
in 19 countries and streamlining its programmes to prevent overlap with other donors. Rajiv Shah, head of USAID, said he
is confident these changes will help save the lives of up to half a million children over three years. "We set for
ourselves the target of getting child mortality down below 20 over 1,000 by 2035 for every country in the world, and we
believe we are on track to achieve that goal," Shah said at a news briefing.
(REUTERS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With help of private industry, USAID review finds $2.9 billion for maternal, child health: Ray Chambers, who chaired
the USAID advisory panel and is a former private equity investor, said the corporate world�s most valuable asset is its
quantitative approach to assessing the impact of initiatives. �If we can�t measure results, then we are not sure we�ve
accomplished anything,� said Chambers, who is the United Nations special envoy for financing the Health Millennium
Development Goals.
(THE WASHINGTON POST)
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
�We work with governments, we work with local partners and look at why kids are dying�a lot of times they do not have
access to basic health care,� said Carolyn Miles, president of Save the Children.
(TIME)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
�[We are] intensifying our efforts, building on our progress to date in strengthening the supply of services and
commodities, and, less well-recognized, enhancing demand - increasing the capacity of poor and disadvantaged people to
access these services,� said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
(VOICE OF AMERICA)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ethiopia has managed to more than halve deaths of children under five since 1990, from 204 for every 1,000 live
births to 68 per 1,000 in 2012. Its maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births has dropped from 950 to 420 in 2013. It
listed the sixth-fastest decline in under-five deaths, and the fourth in childbirth deaths for mothers.
(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
�We really believe that it's fantastic that the U.S. government has heard this call, and it's fantastic that Dr. Raj
Shah has responded to this call, and now we're really excited about what's in store for the announcements tonight,� said
Hugh Evans, CEO of the Global Poverty Project.
(MSNBC / ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deborah Birx, the Obama administration�s new global AIDS coordinator, found Shah�s mapping suggestion so compelling
that she promised to leave the panel and get to work on building out PEPFAR�s mapping tools. �We will go back today and
work on that,� Birx said, calling the launch of a new mapping effort a �key announce-able� for an event on Wednesday which
will highlight other programmatic shifts in USAID�s and its partners� maternal and child health interventions.
(DEVEX)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"An educated girl really is the key to a healthy, more stable, more prosperous country," said Cathy Russell, U.S.
Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. "Educating girls is really one of the best investments we can make."
(AP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The star-studded PSA brings to light atrocities against girls in various parts of the world. The video was organized
by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is also providing $231.6 million for educational programs
in Nigeria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Jordan and Guatemala.
(HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
�All around the world, people want to change the injustices but often times don't know exactly what they can do about
it,� Alicia Keys said in a statement. �I really wanted to participate in this (video) because empowering women changes the
course of our world.�
(DAILY MAIL)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
�To the girls who are willing to get up every morning and face the possibility of threats and possibly death just to
learn: Thank you. And they�re doing it not just for themselves, but for the girls that come after,� said actress Julie
Bowen.
(YAHOO SHINE)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
