Tag Archives: Vaccines

The Accidental Advocate; My Trip With The United Nations Foundation To The Shot@Life Summit 2013

The Accidental Advocate; My Trip With The United Nations Foundation To The Shot@Life Summit 2013

They warned me about the shoes, but I didn’t listen.  We had been advised to wear comfortable shoes for our day of advocating on the hill, but having never advocated on Capitol Hill, nor even imagined myself advocating on Capitol Hill, I could not see the harm in sporting a little heel with my business suit.  I practically had to vacuum the dust off the one business suit I own as it was, after being a stay at home mom for thirteen years, and I did not realize that I would log nearly two miles in those shoes by the end of our day. (I know it was two miles because I used my Charity Miles app on my phone that tracks mileage on walks, runs, and bike rides so sponsors donate money to the charity I choose for the distance completed.)  In any case, being a mom is exactly what brought me to the point of hobbling around crisscrossing our nation’s capitol. Read the rest of this entry

The Power of ONE; Bringing Vaccines to Ghana

The Power of ONE; Bringing Vaccines to Ghana

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