What do you think is the most effective way to turn this idea into real policy? Add your suggestions here for how you think we should run an advocacy campaign to advance the idea – including the overall strategy, messaging, targets, and tactics.

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1. 

   According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a direct link between disease and poverty is undisputed.  in other words without the basics of healthcare, populations are destined to be enslaved into poverty.
   
   In fact the relationship between poverty and ill health is a double-edged sword.  Impoverished people often cannot afford or cannot reach adequate health care services or even receive basic vaccinations.  This leads to devastating illnesses which in turn lead to an inability to work, decreased productivity, and lower income. The cost of healthcare can also be a substantial burden on families, leading even well-to-do families to fall into poverty, when a member falls ill.  It is estimated that between 1990 and 1994, 21% of non-poor households in Bangladesh slipped into poverty as a result of health related causes.   
   
   Diarrheal illnesses, maleria, tuburculosis, and other infectious diseases are the main illnesses that are associated with poverty.  These are associated with lack of clean water, food, sanitation, and access to basic medical services.  In 1990 more Africans died of respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases and measles, than those who died of AIDS which killed 2,154,000 Africans that year.  Malaria killed nearly 1,000,000 African lives and tuberculosis killed 357,000 Africans that year.  In fact each year over 2,500,000 children under the age of 5 die needlessly worldwide due to illnesses which can easily be prevented with today’s available vaccines.   
   
   Efforts by a number of institutions such as the WHO and Unicef have had their share of difficulties reaching these needy populations.  In 1990 Bill and Melinda Gates made a $1.5 Billion commitment to help launch the GAVI Alliance, a partnership that includes numerous governments, WHO, UNICEF, the International Pediatric Association, to name a few .  Since then the GAVI alliance has been credited in saving over 3,000,000 children.  But the efforts have only just begun and much work is still ahead.  Unicef estimates that nearly 30 million children are still not fully immunized each year.    
   
   In cooperation with the GAVI Fund, a group of physicians and business professionals launched http://GiveVaccines.org which gives every individual an opportunity to help raise funds to purchase these life-saving vaccines, by simply participating in a captivating quiz game.  Everyone can help by making a pledge to play the game a few minutes a day and telling all their close friends on Change.org, Facebook and Myspace to do the same. http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/actions/view/go_to_a_hrefhttpgivevaccinesorggivevaccinesorga_-_play_the_free_vocab_game_raise_fun
   
   
   Links and References:
   
   http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/actions/view/go_to_a_hrefhttpgivevaccinesorggivevaccinesorga_-_play_the_free_vocab_game_raise_fun
   http://whqlibdoc.who.int/HQ/1997/WHO_TFHE_TBN_97.2.pdf http://www.who.int/mip2001/files/2110/PPM01.pdf
   http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/africa/overview22.shtml
   http://everychild.gavialliance.org
   
   Your help is appreciated,
   
   Dr. Sam

   Suggested by Sam Rabinowitz on 03/01/2009 @ 11:19PM PT

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2. 

   We should begin by cleaning out our closets, garages, and storage spaces and ask ourselves, do I really need 100 pairs of shoes?  How many cells phones and chargers does one person actually need?  We are a nation of consumers "gone wild".  I read on a blog, asking for old cell phones and old computers to improve communications in rural Africa & India.  They are recycling cell phones and PC's and using them to deliver medical services when Hospitals are hundreds of miles away.  I read a story about a wild fire in Kenya, where a network of local farmers, using recycled cell phones, sent text messages, alerting the community of the impending danger.  Lives were saved and property losses were spared by using this basic Early Warning System.
   
   Just my 2 cents
   Thank you
   
   Leatrice Brantley

   Suggested by leatrice brantley on 02/28/2009 @ 07:57AM PT

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