St. Paul Joins Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide

St. Paul Joins Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide

ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of local media, health organizations, universities, and faith-based institutions in St. Paul 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, TPT has worked with the Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota International Health Volunteers, and the Rotary to form this unprecedented coalition. Teaming up with the Global Health Council, universities and faith- based organizations also participating in the global child health and survival effort include Hamline University, Macalester College, College of St. Scholastica, Minnesota Council of Churches, Church of All Nations, Minnesota Interfaith Advocacy for Social Justice, and Congregations Concerned for Children.

Minnesotans are taking the lead from Representative Betty McCollum, who recently led an effort to launch the new Global Health Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. 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. College students are joining the effort as well. Nearly 15 student groups at the College of St. Scholastica are sponsoring screenings for all three nights of the PBS series airing Nov. 1-3, and the St. Scholastica Campus Ministries is planning to host a follow-up discussion about the series.

"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/

LOCAL COALITION
CONTACT: Vicky Mendez
651.229.1336
vmendez@tpt.org
www.tpt.org

GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL
CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood
202.833.5900 x3213
mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org
www.globalhealth.org

Source: Global Health Council

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of Global Health Council,
+1-202-833-5900 x3213, or email mrichardson-osgood@globalhealth.org; or Local
Coalition Contact, Vicky Mendez, +1-651-229-1336, or email vmendez@tpt.org

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

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