Chicago Joins Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide

Chicago Joins Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide

CHICAGO, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of local media, health organizations, universities, and faith-based institutions in Chicago have joined with 30 other communities across the country in an effort to increase awareness of the 11 million children who die each year worldwide (pbs.org/rxforsurvival/campaign).

As part of WGBH/Boston and Vulcan Productions' Rx for Child Survival(TM), a nationwide mobilization campaign created by WGBH/PBS Boston and Vulcan Productions, WTTW is working with Loyola University, Girl Scouts, CARE, and Islamic Medical Association of North America to form this unprecedented coalition. Teaming up with the Global Health Council, universities also participating in the global child health and survival effort include Loyola University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago. The coalitions are working in their communities to increase awareness about global health, encourage donations to child health programs, and advocate for increased government funding for global child health and survival.

As part of the initiative, WTTW is co-sponsoring a viewing of an episode of Rx for Survival -- A Global Health Challenge(TM) at Loyola University on November 2nd. And the Girl Scouts are going to tie their International Thinking Day in with the Rx for Child Survival campaign by making medical kits for Hurricane Katrina victims.

"We are building a grassroots movement to educate the public about the preventable deaths of millions of children across the world," states Deryck Spooner, national campaigns manager at the Global Health Council. The Council is also calling on the U.S. government to nearly double funding for global child health in the coming fiscal year.

The Rx for Child Survival campaign was created by WGBH and Vulcan Productions to coincide with their far-reaching multimedia project Rx for Survival -- A Global Health Challenge(TM) anchored by a six-part television series airing November 1-3, 2005 on PBS stations across the country. Major funding for the project was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Merck Company Foundation.

http://www.pbs.org/rxforsurvival/campaignhttp://www.wttw.com/http://www.globalhealth.org/http://www.pbs.org/http://www.vulcanproductions.com/

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of the Global Health Council, +1-202-833-5900 x3213, mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org; or Local Coalition: Shaunese Teamer, +1-773-509-5441, steamer@wttw.com.

Source: Global Health Council

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of the Global Health Council, +1-202-833-5900 x3213, mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org; or Local Coalition: Shaunese Teamer, +1-773-509-5441, steamer@wttw.com

Web site: http://www.globalhealth.org/ http://www.pbs.org/rxforsurvival/campaign http://www.wttw.com/ http://www.pbs.org/ http://www.vulcanproductions.com/

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