"The Survival Project: One Child at a Time" on CNN 7/6

From UNICEF...
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You won't want to miss a remarkable program airing on CNN on Sunday, July 6 at 8 and 11 pm (ET).

"The Survival Project: One Child at a Time" is an hour-long special that explores why, each day, more than 26,000 children die from preventable causes, and how we at UNICEF are doing whatever it takes to save young lives.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, will host the program and UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu will participate in a panel discussion on the issues. There will also be a special announcement of the newest celebrity Ambassador to join our ranks.

Tune in to this historic broadcast and then visit unicefusa.org to reaffirm your commitment to the fight for child survival.

Sachs discussion coming up, June 30!

How's your reading coming?

This is your reminder that there are 5 days left before our on-line discussion of Part One of Jeffery Sach's book "Common Wealth." I'll blog about some parts that grabbed my interest and then you get a chance to weigh in on the comment section. You can comment on other aspects of Part One, agree with my observations or tell me I'm way off base!
I hope to see you here!
-ccyl

CALL CONGRESS on Mon, June 25 to support PEPFAR

From RESULTS...
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Five years ago, Congress passed the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Act of 2003, which authorized PEPFAR, an historic effort to combat HIV/AIDS, and the largest commitment ever by a single country to a global health initiative. Today, Congress is poised to renew and expand that effort by passing the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (H.R.5501, S.2731). The Lantos-Hyde Act authorizes $50 billion over five years for these three diseases of poverty, continuing our leadership against AIDS and malaria, and stepping up our response to tuberculosis by authorizing up to $4billion in funding. (For more background on the Lantos-Hyde Act, please read the June Action Sheet .)

Despite broad bipartisan support, Senate action was stalled for months by seven senators (lead by Sen. Coburn (R-OK)), who had policy and funding concerns with the bill. Growing media and civil society pressure finally spurred Senate leadership into action, and on June 19, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) set June 24 as the deadline for negotiations. On June 24, Senator Reid publicly stated his hope that the negotiations between Senators Biden (D-DE), Lugar (R-IN), Enzi (R-WY), Coburn (R-OK) and the White House would allow him to call a vote in the immediate future.

This week — as early as today — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could schedule a floor time and a vote on the Lantos-Hyde Global HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Act of 2008. While we are happy that passage of this bill before Congress adjourns for the July 4th recess is appearing more likely, we are very concerned that there may be harmful amendments offered during debate. We are also working with Senate allies to offer an amendment to restore critical TB policy language to the bill.

*TAKE ACTION NOW*

Please call your senators NOW and ask them to:

+support the Unanimous Consent vote
+Support the Lantos-Hyde bill on the floor of the Senate
+Oppose any amendments that reduce funding or put earmarks in for abstinence only.

Detailed information on what to say is below.

CALL SCRIPT:

Hello. My name is ______________ __ and I’m calling from ________________.

I am calling to thank the Senator for XXX and to ask him/her to support a comprehensive and effective Lantos-Hyde bill when it comes to the floor.

I hope Senator ___________ _____ will vote against any amendment to cut funding from the bill below the current $50 billion authorization. That funding is badly needed to fight AIDS but also to scale up to a real response on the global crises of tuberculosis and malaria as well.