Today is United Nations Day, marking the anniversary “of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter,” the United Nations (UN) website says. October 24th has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948; and in 1971, the UN General Assembly recommended the day be observed by member states as a public holiday.
“In a world that is more connected, we must be more united, says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “On United Nations Day, let us pledge to live up to our founding ideals and work together for peace, development and human rights. ”
In celebration of United Nations Day, the UMHS Pulse looks at the many ways the UN helps global health through the UN Foundation.
United Nations Foundation’s Achievements in Global Health
The following achievements highlight what the UN Foundation is doing to improve health:
- Delivering $200 million for polio eradication efforts to help reduce the geographic range of polio from 30 to 3 countries and mobilizing over $570 million for the Measles & Rubella Initiative.
(Photo, inset right) ERADICATING POLIO: The UN Foundation delivers free vaccine to children in developing nations. Photo: UNFoundation.org
- Raising more than $40 million from hundreds of thousands of individuals to distribute more than 6 million nets for malaria prevention in Africa through the Nothing But Nets campaign.
- Delivering bed nets for 1.6 million people to Zambia 3 months ahead of schedule and before the peak of the deadly rainy season, using the innovative financing of the Pledge Guarantee for Health.
- Re-granting nearly $6 million to U.S.-based NGOs under the Strengthening U.S. Leadership on International Reproductive Health and Family Planning Initiative.
- Together with partners, committing $400 million by 2015 to the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman, Every Child initiative to help the UN address key global health priorities.
- Delivering life-saving vaccines and anti-malaria nets to children.
- Providing clean cookstoves to families.
- Harnessing the latest mobile technologies to improve public health.
- Empowering power with the tools to plan their families and have safe pregnancies.
- Working with the World the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), other UN leaders, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to develop and expand major initiatives to prevent disease and help children and women survive and thrive.
The UN Foundation’s current priorities include:
- Preventing malaria deaths.
- Eradicating polio.
- Reducing measles mortality.
- Mobile health for development.
- Innovating health finance.
- Improving health for every woman, every child.
For more information or to make a donation, visit http://www.unfoundation.org/what-we-do/issues/global-health/
(Top photo): Flag of the United Nations. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
