The Congressional Global Health Caucus sponsored a briefing for Congressional aides on “Global Health and Children.” I was asked to provide an overview and moderate the panel which included representatives from Save the Children, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, World Vision, and CARE USA.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF/2011

Global Health and Children panelists with aides to Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA), the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Global Health Caucus.

Our collective message to the Hill was that progress is being made to reduce the number of children who die of preventable causes. The funding and leadership provided by the United States Government, in partnership with international organizations like UNICEF, non-governmental organizations, foundations, corporate partners, service clubs, and individual donors have helped cut under-five child mortality rates by a third since 1990. The money raised and implemented is measurably making a difference – but work remains to get the 22,000 children who die each day down to Zero.

Each year brings us a step closer to the elimination of polio. To help hasten the day that Zero children are afflicted with polio, please take a minute to sign our petition in support of global child survival and maternal health. U.S. Government appropriations for the fight to end polio are part of this overall funding.

U.S. Federal funding for life-saving global efforts is in jeopardy. While it is clear that our Nation needs to reduce the Federal budget deficit, most Americans do not want the small but vital child survival and maternal health programs put on the chopping block. We need to let our Senators and Representatives know that Americans care about this essential funding. They need to know you care

At a packed room at the National Press Club, Tony P. Hall (D-OH) and leaders representing a broad coalition of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other advocacy organizations pledged themselves to fasting, prayer, and advocacy.

World leaders recently met at the United Nations to discuss the state of progress on the efforts to implement goals set for 2015 (the Millennium Development Goals) to reduce poverty and disease. As a contribution to those discussions, UNICEF released its “Narrowing the Gaps to Meet the Goals” study. The landmark document advocates that major gains in child and maternal health can be best achieved by focusing programs and resources on the very poorest women and children in the poorest countries. Reaching the poorest of the poor not only is the right thing to do, it is the most effective way to save the lives of millions of vulnerable children and their mothers by 2015.

Fiscal Year 2011 begins on October 1, but funding for the full year will not be set until they reconvene. So the final decisions on appropriations for foreign affairs and international development, including the U.S. Government’s contribution to UNICEF, await their return.

Yesterday President Obama addressed the UN summit on Millennium Development Goals and announced a new US global development policy that forges stronger ties between foreign aid and national security.

Martin Rendón is the Vice President for Public Policy & Advocacy at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

At a time of tight budgeting in Washington, supporters of global child survival are challenged to find sources to fund efforts to save children from dying of causes we can prevent. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF has joined with defense analysts, other child survival advocates, and a growing number of religious leaders to support the Global Security Priorities Resolution. This bipartisan Congressional resolution, H. Res. 278, calls for reductions in nuclear arms, with savings applied to global child survival and child hunger programs.

Through negotiations to reduce nuclear arsenals, savings of as much as $13 billion annually could be relocated in the budget to dismantle and secure nuclear weapons. Because our nation believes in helping children worldwide, and because poverty and neglect create fertile recruiting for terrorists, the resolution also targets some of the savings to fund child health and nutrition programs.

	Logos of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace (left) and the Lutheran World Federation. Both institutions endorsed the concept of using savings from nuclear arms reduction to meet the needs of children!

World religious leaders see the need to set new global priorities that transfer resources from nuclear weapons to meeting the basic needs of children. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Lutheran World Federation are among the groups that are calling for support for the global priorities initiative.

The Global Security Priorities Resolution has secured the number of cosponsors it needs to be considered by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO Caryl M. Stern has written to Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-CA) to encourage him to schedule a vote on H. Res. 278 before Congress adjourns.

Please join us in asking your Representative to cosponsor the Global Security Priorities Resolution and to urge Chairman Berman to schedule it for a vote by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. With your help, our Representatives in Washington can make getting to Zero a foreign policy priority!

In Washington, preparations are underway for fireworks, parades, and other patriotic events to mark Independence Day on July 4th. And Congress has been wrapping up work as legislators leave to observe the holiday back home.

© Architect of the Capital

In advance of the Congressional recess, the House Appropriations Committee started the process of writing the bills to fund the Federal Government for Fiscal Year 2011, which begins on October 1st. Its Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs approved the bill to fund foreign assistance programs, including the annual U.S. contribution to UNICEF.

I am happy to report that the Subcommittee provided $134 million for UNICEF, an increase of $1.75 million above last year’s level of $132.25 million.

Although the overall funding in the bill was $4 billion less than the Administration had requested, the Subcommittee made it a point to help UNICEF in a very tight budget situation.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to work on its version of this funding measure after the July 4th Congressional Recess. We hope the positive action on UNICEF by the House Appropriations Committee will encourage a good outcome in the Senate.

You can support our efforts to get to Zero by clicking on messages to your legislators.

Martin Rendón is the Vice President for Public Policy & Advocacy at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

With schools across the country emptying out for Summer Break, our Nation’s Capital now is flooded with thousands of students who are touring the sights. Among them was an outstanding group of State College Area School District students from Pennsylvania.

The students were in LifeLink PSU, a program for 18- to 21-year-olds with special needs. In partnership with Penn State University, LifeLink helps these young people in the “Wild Dream Team” transition to adult responsibilities.

© U.S. Fund for UNICEF

The Wild Dream Team and Teri Lindner, LifeLink PSU Executive Director presenting a check to UNICEF USA’s Martin Rendon, Vice President, Office of Public Policy and Advocacy.

The Wild Dream Team students of LifeLink PSU had been raising funds earlier this year for a planned trip to the Bahamas. But when the earthquake struck Haiti in January, they decided to redirect the money to help the children of Haiti. Through their hard work and persistence, they raised $20,000 for Haitian relief.

We are deeply honored they chose to contribute this money to UNICEF’s efforts in Haiti. It was an uplifting example of youth in the United States sacrificing to help the youth of Haiti.

I met the students during their visit to Washington at the Lincoln Memorial for a ceremony to accept their check for Haitian relief. On behalf of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, I saluted them for their sacrifice and compassion for others – cherished characteristics of the American spirit. In the shadow of the statue of President Lincoln, I encouraged them to continue as good citizens to share their concerns for the children of the world with our country’s leaders.

May the Wild Dream Team students of LifeLink PSU inspire all of us to help children in need as they did and to work for a world where no child dies of preventable causes.