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| © Adam Fifield | |
| The 2008 U.S. Fund for UNICEF Annual Meeting |
Hundreds of UNICEF supporters—including donors, volunteers, corporate partners, NGO representatives and UNICEF staff—came to Atlanta, GA this week for the U.S. Fund’s annual meeting.
The rousing session inside the city’s Woodruff Arts Center on Thursday, June 19 was punctuated by vigorous applause and standing ovations. The audience heard about the remarkable successes of the last year, including the announcement that for the first time ever, the number of children under age five dying each year had dropped below 10 million. But several speakers noted that 26,000 children are still dying every day from preventable causes.
In an appeal for continued vigilance on behalf of the world’s children, U.S. Fund President and CEO Caryl M. Stern told the crowd that she believed that number could be reduced to zero.
“I believe in zero.” Stern said. “Zero does not mean nothing. In this case, zero means everything.”
Zero, Stern said, means a commitment to keep fighting as long as any child is dying of a preventable cause.
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| © Adam Fifield | |
| Barron Segar, Sarah Walton and Caryl Stern |
The morning’s general session also featured a powerful new video on UNICEF’s commitment to saving every child; a warm welcome by Atlanta Mayor—and long-time UNICEF supporter—Shirley Franklin; and two panel discussions.
During the first discussion, three UNICEF staff members gave examples of how UNICEF does whatever it takes to save a child.
Dr. Koen Vanormelingen, the UNICEF representative for the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, told how UNICEF carried out a nation-wide campaign, during one week in October last year, to bring children a package of lifesaving interventions. The campaign—which included the distribution of 550,000 insecticide-treated bed nets—was estimated to have saved at least 7,000 children’s lives.
The head of emergency preparedness and response for UNICEF Iraq, Luciano Calestini, offered a riveting account of how UNICEF recently delivered safe water to children and their families in the midst of intense fighting in the cities of Basra and Baghdad. In Baghdad, a worker connecting pipes on one of the tanker trucks being used to transport water was hit in the head by a loose shell and killed, Calestini said.
“If that’s not doing whatever it takes to save a child, I don’t know what is,” he said, to a surge of applause.
Calestini also noted that despite rampant violence in Iraq, UNICEF managed to vaccinate 4.5 million children against polio and measles last year.
Shanelle Hall, the director of UNICEF’s Supply Division, explained how UNICEF is able to get lifesaving vaccines and other vital materials to children all over the world. “UNICEF is uniquely position to bridge the gap between knowledge and know-how,” Hall said.
During a panel discussion on issuing a call to action for child survival, speakers Kirk Perry of Procter and Gamble, Curtis Wilson of American Express and Grace Greenwell of Key Club International all explained how they became involved with UNICEF and why they have committed themselves and their organizations to saving children’s lives.
At the end of the day, it was hard not to feel inspired and hard not to be struck by a contagious, collective sense of possibility—the possibility that, together, we can build on what’s been achieved, and that we can save more young lives than ever before.
Are you inspired? To donate, go here.
