More than 1 billion people currently use birth control. For the most part, they do it without hesitation. They do it because they want the power to plan their own lives—and to raise healthy, happy families when they are ready to do so.
I’m in India this week with the United Nations Foundation’s Board of Directors – some of the smartest minds I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with – to discuss how we can help the UN solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Just last month the world celebrated as India marked a major success in its battle against polio by being removed from the World Health Organization’s list of countries plagued by the crippling disease.
Nothing But Nets is coming to Chicago and we want to see you there! Our great partners, Broadway In Chicago, are helping to send life-saving bed nets to protect families all over Africa from malaria. If you are in the Chicago area, we have a great opportunity for you to help us fight this deadly disease.
In 1999, only one year after I got my first mobile phone, I launched a company that enabled people to order online groceries and pay their bills with our newly created, kitchen iPad-like device that would sit on the countertop. I distinctly remember hearing venture capitalists at the time ask us why we didn’t enable this over the mobile phone.
Today, polio is one step closer to being a page in our children’s history books. The World Health Organization has officially removed India from the polio endemic list, leaving only Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. On January 13, we marked the one-year anniversary of no new cases of polio in India. This is major milestone for the country, which had the highest number of polio cases in 2009.
We all have a lot of things going on these days so it is easy to miss some of the best reads of the week. Global Connections will be blogging about the top articles of the week each Wednesday in our “What We’re Reading” blog post, so subscribe to our blogs, and check back often for updates! Did we miss your favorite article? Tell us in the comments below and we will add it.
As we lead up to International Women’s Day in early March, I’m reminded of the remarkable women I recently spent time with in Honduras working to reduce childhood mortality. From Dr. Gina Watson, the Representative of PAHO/WHO in Honduras, to Dr. Ida Molina, Manager of the National Vaccines Program at the Honduran Ministry of Health, these women are leading efforts to ensure that every child in Honduras is vaccinated and gets a shot at a healthy life.
