North Carolina Cities Join Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide

North Carolina Cities Join Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide

CHARLOTTE, CHAPEL HILL, and DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Coalitions of local media, health organizations, universities, and faith-based institutions in Charlotte, Chapel Hill and Durham 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, Charlotte's WTVI has partnered with the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services to form this unprecedented coalition. Working with the Global Health Council, universities and faith-based organizations also participating in the global child health and survival effort include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and the Mecklenburg Ministries.

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. Among other events, the Student Global Health Committee at UNC Chapel Hill is encouraging students to host house parties for the Rx for Survival series on November 1-3 by providing house party packs with information on the series, global health fact sheets, and snacks. Another member of the coalition, Mecklenburg Ministries, is coordinating an interfaith gathering and sending information about the Rx for Child Survival campaign to its seventeen religious member organizations.

"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.globalhealth.org/http://www.pbs.org/http://www.vulcanproductions.com/

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of Global Health Council, +1-202-833-5900 x3213, mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org; or Local Coalition: Beverly Dorn-Steele of WTVI-Charlotte, +1-707-371-8840, bds@wtvi.org

Source: Global Health Council

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of Global Health Council, +1-202-833-5900 x3213, mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org; or Local Coalition: Beverly Dorn-Steele of WTVI-Charlotte, +1-707-371-8840, bds@wtvi.org

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

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