Article shared by Andre Roberfroid
Unicef could have (or should have?) send that message. Should we react ???
Andre
Excerpts:
Andre
Excerpts:
"It wasn’t just the child mortality rates from these diseases that went down, though. Year after year, the raw number of overall childhood deaths fell—even as the global population rose—from 12 million in 1990 to five million in 2019.
We’ve made incredible progress, and we keep moving in the right direction. But we aren’t moving fast enough. Just under five million kids still die each year before reaching their fifth birthday. Another two million are stillborn. Virtually all of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries—and every single one is a tragedy that devastates families and entire communities."
We’ve made incredible progress, and we keep moving in the right direction. But we aren’t moving fast enough. Just under five million kids still die each year before reaching their fifth birthday. Another two million are stillborn. Virtually all of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries—and every single one is a tragedy that devastates families and entire communities."
"None of this work is easily accomplished. Most goals worth achieving aren’t, though, especially one as important as this. But with the right commitment, I think preventable child deaths will one day be as unimaginable to us as life without computers. And in the not-too-distant future, a world where all children have the same chance to survive and thrive—no matter where they’re born—will become reality, too."
Thanks, André, for sharing this important message from Bill Gates.
ReplyDeleteI have long felt that Gates is a new incarnation of Jim Grant and deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
In his 2011 Annual Letter, Bill Gates profiled UNICEF’s legendary leader Jim Grant and noted that “Jim Grant’s achievement is the greatest miracle of saving children’s lives ever”.
To better understand what strategies Grant used to convince world leaders to give top priority to child survival and development using immunization as the cutting edge, Mr. Gates invited several of us Grant’s closest colleagues (Richard Jolly, Jon Rohde, Peter Adamson, Tony Lake and Kul Gautam, joined by Gates' own colleagues Mark Suzman and Ernest Loevinsohn) to meet him at the Gates Foundation’s Washington, DC office on 9 March 2011. We had a very fruitful exchange with him. (I attach a briefing note I had prepared for that meeting).
It is worth noting that Gates was a keynote speaker (along with Nelson Mandela and Gordon Brown) at the 2001 UNGA Special Session on Children. He recounted at that Summit how he had been inspired to devote much of the rest of his life to global health issues, particularly child survival and immunization, including through GAVI. Apparently one of the colleagues who inspired and educated Gates on the importance of child health was Grant's close colleague and our dear friend Dr. Bill Foege.
This message by Bill Gates is so reminiscent of Jim Grant's missives in the 1980s and 90s.
Yes, André, I wish UNICEF's contribution to the first "Child Survival Revolution" and its continuing work figured more prominently in Gates' message. But times and circumstances have changed. Still let's hope that this message inspires UNICEF's current leadership to redouble its own efforts in partnership with organizations like the BMGF.
Hi Kul Thanks for sharing. I have been doing some research on CSDR and your note helps put a lot into context. Be well
DeleteMOncef
From the New York Times in 2023 - column by Nick Kristof. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/21/opinion/children-famine-somalia-solutions.html
ReplyDelete"We know how to save kids’ lives. At UNICEF in the 1980s and 1990s, an American executive director named James Grant — for my money, the most important U.N. official in history — oversaw an effort that slashed death rates in the developing world and saved perhaps 25 million lives. If we built statues of heroes based on their impact on the world, busts of Grant would adorn every town square. All this underscores that we live in an age of miracles, when it is possible to m"ultiply loaves and fishes, feed the hungry and overcome death itself. And we can do this remarkably cheaply."
Pretty glowing tribute
Moncef
Lovely- and challenging. Richard
ReplyDeleteAndre, I share your feeling that it would be so good to see UNICEF also articulating such a message. Kul's background it most usful in reminding us that Gates has in the past paid tribute to Jim Grant to the accomplishment of UNICEF under his leadership. In Bill Gates and his foundation would seem to have some of what UNICEF had under JimGrant -- Vision, leadership and courage. I suspect that he, like Jim, devotes a rather small portion of his time to "managing or administrating the organization."
ReplyDeleteUNICEF does not have this vision and leadrship at the top, and has not for the last 30 years. It is unlikely to again have that because its leadership has been and will continue to be determined by political, administrative and establishment forces that are highly unlikely to identify and put in place such visionary and dynamic leadership. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the organization will continueto provide space for those with vision and leadership to operative a the country level making progress for children above and beyond the norms
Steve