In 1988, polio paralyzed 350,000 children in 125 countries. Twenty years later, there are fewer than 1500 cases of polio around the world, and just four countries remain endemic (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan). How did this happen? In 1988, United Nations agencies like UNICEF and the World Health Program teamed up with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a number of private philanthropies to form the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
The initiative has obviously been hugely successful, but it has not yet put itself out of business. So, to help give global polio eradication one final push, Rotary International (one of the founding partners of the initiative) today announced a new $100,000 campaign. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are matching the campaign dollar for dollar.
$200 million may be all it takes to one and for all give polio the boot. Why not pitch in?
Our friends at Global Voices Online asked us to pass along the following announcement:
Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Health-Related New Media Outreach
Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Public Health Program's Health Media Initiative, is now accepting project proposals for the third round of microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects focused especially on public health issues involving marginalized populations.
More info after the jump.
The Vodafone Foundation and the United Nations Foundation released a new report on innovative uses of mobile technology by NGOs working to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. The report identifies emerging trends in "mobile activism" through 11 case studies, and highlights the results of a global survey of NGO usage of mobile technology.
Here's a taste of some of the findings from three of the case studies:
Cell-Life, a non-governmental organization based in Cape Town, South Africa, created its "Aftercare" program to work with the public health system and its health workers to provide home-based care for HIV/AIDS patients receiving Anti-Retroviral Treatments. Each Aftercare worker is assigned to monitor 15 to 20 patients. The worker visits the patient in his or her home, and in a one on one session discusses the patient's current treatment. Using their mobile phones for data capture, Aftercare workers record information about patient medical status, drug adherence, and other factors that may affect a patient's ART therapy. Aftercare workers then relay this information via text message to a central Cell-Life database. The data sent via text message reaches the Cell-Life server, where a care manager uses a web-based system to access and monitor the incoming patient information. The manager can also respond to Aftercare workers' questions and provide supplemental information to improve patient care. The information collected not only facilitates individual patient care, but is also used to build a database of information on the severity and prevalence of the South African AIDS epidemic in these regions.
More examples like this after the jump.
The Vodafone Foundation and the United Nations Foundation released a new report on innovative uses of mobile technology by NGOs working to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. The report identifies emerging trends in "mobile activism" through 11 case studies, and highlights the results of a global survey of NGO usage of mobile technology.
Here's a taste of some of the findings from three of the case studies:
Cell-Life, a non-governmental organization based in Cape Town, South Africa, created its "Aftercare" program to work with the public health system and its health workers to provide home-based care for HIV/AIDS patients receiving Anti-Retroviral Treatments. Each Aftercare worker is assigned to monitor 15 to 20 patients. The worker visits the patient in his or her home, and in a one on one session discusses the patient's current treatment. Using their mobile phones for data capture, Aftercare workers record information about patient medical status, drug adherence, and other factors that may affect a patient's ART therapy. Aftercare workers then relay this information via text message to a central Cell-Life database. The data sent via text message reaches the Cell-Life server, where a care manager uses a web-based system to access and monitor the incoming patient information. The manager can also respond to Aftercare workers' questions and provide supplemental information to improve patient care. The information collected not only facilitates individual patient care, but is also used to build a database of information on the severity and prevalence of the South African AIDS epidemic in these regions.
More examples like this after the jump.
Over at the Huffington Post, the University if Chicago health care economist Harold Pollack gets into the spirit of World Malaria Day.
One of the few brights spots these days is that millions of Americans finally realize the importance of global health. Today is world Malaria Day. If you're reading this, you probably already know that this is a huge killer, particularly of kids in sub-Saharan Africa. I was hoping to party with Brad and Angelina to celebrate the occasion. That probably won't happen since my daughter has soccer. Instead, to honor the occasion I am buying bednets for some African kids. You should too. These cost maybe $7 each, and are among the most gloriously cost-effective things you can ever do to save lives and improve health. The charity link is [here.] This is a great organization. Oh, buy buy a mosquito net in honor of your actual or hoped-for significant other. The UN Foundation will send him/her a cool email. Your love object wil receive this missive, and believe you are way cooler than you actually are. As my wife will attest, it works for me. You can see my picture. So this must be working.Don't sell yourself short, Harold! And thanks for plugging Nothing But Nets. Send a Net, Save a Life.
Over at the Huffington Post, the University if Chicago health care economist Harold Pollack gets into the spirit of World Malaria Day.
One of the few brights spots these days is that millions of Americans finally realize the importance of global health. Today is world Malaria Day. If you're reading this, you probably already know that this is a huge killer, particularly of kids in sub-Saharan Africa. I was hoping to party with Brad and Angelina to celebrate the occasion. That probably won't happen since my daughter has soccer. Instead, to honor the occasion I am buying bednets for some African kids. You should too. These cost maybe $7 each, and are among the most gloriously cost-effective things you can ever do to save lives and improve health. The charity link is [here.] This is a great organization. Oh, buy buy a mosquito net in honor of your actual or hoped-for significant other. The UN Foundation will send him/her a cool email. Your love object wil receive this missive, and believe you are way cooler than you actually are. As my wife will attest, it works for me. You can see my picture. So this must be working.Don't sell yourself short, Harold! And thanks for plugging Nothing But Nets. Send a Net, Save a Life.
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting launched a new, amazingly interactive site LiveHopeLove that brings together poetry, essays, documentaries, short video interviews, music, and photography to explore the AIDS crisis in the Caribbean. In the video below, poet and writer Kwame Dawes who returns to the country of his youth to speak with Jamaicans about the impact HIV has had on them and their country.
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting launched a new, amazingly interactive site LiveHopeLove that brings together poetry, essays, documentaries, short video interviews, music, and photography to explore the AIDS crisis in the Caribbean. In the video below, poet and writer Kwame Dawes who returns to the country of his youth to speak with Jamaicans about the impact HIV has had on them and their country.