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

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

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of local media, health organizations, universities, and faith-based institutions in Tucson 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, the Sahuaro Girl Scout Council, League of Women Voters, and YWCA Tucson have joined together to form a local coalition. Working with the Global Health Council, the University of Arizona School of Public Health is also participating in this effort to increase awareness about global health, encourage donations to child health programs, and advocate for increased government funding for global child health and survival.

In support of the initiative, Rep. Jim Kolbe and other health experts spoke recently at a screening and panel discussion on "Global AIDS: Current Trends & Hot Spots" sponsored by The Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network. As Chairman of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, he has been a strong advocate for global health and development programs. And on the evening of November 3rd, John McElligott and the University Coalition for Global Health at the University of Arizona are bringing together all four health colleges -- public health, medicine, nursing and pharmacy -- to watch the two- hour PBS show together at 9pm.

"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, or mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org, or Jim Wiggins, Tucson, +1-520-979-7775, or Jimnmosco@aol.com.

Source: Global Health Council

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of Global Health Council, +1-202-833-5900, x3213, or mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org, or Jim Wiggins, Tucson, +1-520-979-7775, or Jimnmosco@aol.com

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

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