In the developing world more than 7.6 children die each year before they reach the age of 5 due to preventable or treatable diseases. Many of these deaths could be prevented through simple, cost-effective vaccines that fight diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, and polio. Here in the U.S.A. we take the availability of vaccines for granted, but for millions of parents across the world they are simply inaccessible.
Photo by Elizabeth Atalay
Today ONE.org is on the ground in Ghana with a team of Bloggers from ONE Moms to document the inoculation of children there for the first time with vaccines to prevent pneumonia and diarrhea. The White House credits ONE and it’s supporters with pushing for monetary commitments to help fund the GAVI campaign (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations) last year. By 2015 millions of lives will be saved by actions you may have taken to support the campaign. All this goes to once again prove the power of one.
You can follow along on the trip on Facebook and Twitter (#ONEMoms @ONECampaign #vaccineswork #GAVIAlliance) and of course the ONE Moms Blog to get the latest information from the field. You can also follow the blogs and tweets of those traveling with us to Ghana:
Ana Roca Castro, Babble Voices @AnaRC @BabbleEditors
Amy Graff, BabyCenter, @bayareamoms
C.C. Chapman, CC Chapman/Passion Hit TV @cc_chapman
Rich Galen, Mullings @richgalen
Bryant Shannon, Life In Rupees, @BShannon
Thank you for sharing this! Becoming a mom makes you feel so much more love and responsibility for all children. I’ll be following along!
I feel the same way! Once you become a mom all the children of the world become your children. It is such an amazing trip the ONE Moms are on!
Elizabeth, I am genuinely excited about the efforts of the “Power of One.” Helping to bring to an end the constant fear of starvation and of communicable diseases in the developing countries is an overdue project in the developed world. I would much rather see a mobilization like this than in the great projects of science — even though I am a scientist.
You don’t have to choose, I think our greatest scientific projects to date could be how to solve these types of problems, no discovery could be more important to us, and impact us more directly as a human race than how to save lives. Scientific solutions can and do play an integral part in solving these types of issues,I feel like they are inter-connected.
Truly what an amazing organization. Thank you so much for sharing. Every kid deserves to be healthy.