G8 Watch 2012
18-19 MAY 2012, CAMP DAVID, United States of America
Blog series: Huffington Post
10 MAY 2012 | HUFFINGTON POST - A series of Blogs by leading groups in civil society— including The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health—is being published on the Huffington Post in the week leading up to the G8 meeting 18-19 May 2012. This series joins ongoing efforts by major civil society networks, such as the Global G8/G20 Working Group, in positioning policy statements on maternal, newborn and child heatlh (MNCH) and accountability with G8 and G20 leaders, urging full implementation and accountability of pledges made at previous G-8 meetings, including the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health led by Canada in 2010 and the L’Aquila food security initiative launched at the G8 meeting in Italy in 2009.
The first blog in the series was posted on 10 MAY 2012, by InterAction. Look for the Blog from Director PMNCH on 15 MAY. The list of participating organizations includes many PMNCH members and other members of the Global G8/G20 Working Group. They include: InterAction, ONE, Save the Children, Action Aid, Oxfam, Sabin Vaccine Institute, American Cancer Society, Global Network of Tropical Diseases, World Vision International, 1,000 Days, Feminist Task Force-GCAP, Transparency International, Robin Hood Tax Coalition, CCIH, Frontline Health Workers Coalition, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health.
HUFFINGTON POST BLOG series and links
By Samuel A. Worthington, President & CEO, InterAction
"...The G8 summit is expected to produce a new "food security initiative" which is likely to have a strong focus on the private sector's contribution to increasing food production and, we fear, not enough on nutrition."
By Neil Watkins, Director of Policy & Campaigns, ActionAid USA:
"In just over a week, President Obama will host G8 leaders at Camp David. In addition to the usual global security and financial issues, they'll talk about a crisis that affects more than a billion people on the planet: global hunger."
By Lane Hartill, Director, Emergency Media , Save the Children
"Hassia is exhausted. She's sitting on a mat in the sand. A child is curled up on her lap, two others sleep at her feet.".... "Our main worry," she says, "is being hungry."
By Ben Leo, Global Policy Director, ONE
"If you took the current population of the United States and quadrupled it, you would almost have the number of people living in extreme poverty in the world today."
By Adam Taylor, Vice President of Advocacy, World Vision
“Ask 57-year-old Zalika how many children she's delivered in her village and she'll just shake her head and laugh. It's far too many to count. I ask her how many births she's attended in the past few weeks and even that is difficult.”
By Shruti Shah, Senior policy director of law and regulation, Transparency International
“In India more than 200 million people live withoutsecure access to food, the most of any county in the world, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. As the report argued, this is not because India lacks the resources to provide for its population. “
By Sonia Lowman, Communications officer, International Medical Corps
05.15.2012 - "I'm speaking via Skype video with James, a 32-year-old health worker in Pochalla, a remote county in South Sudan's Jonglei state. Where he sits, night has fallen and it's starting to rain, which I'm told is quite typical. Constant rainfall causes Pochalla's river to fill up, isolating its 70,000 residents all but two months of the year."
By Neeraj Mistry, M.D., Managing Director, Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
05.15.2012 - "While G8 countries have led global development efforts for decades, the past several years have been especially important for commitments related to improving the health of the world's poor. We have seen great progress in immunization, HIV/AIDS treatment and anti-malaria efforts."
By Dr Ciro de Quadros , Executive Vice President, Sabin Vaccine Institute
05.12.2012 - "Some of our greatest global successes occurred when nations around the world worked together to protect their citizens from devastating diseases. We're incredibly lucky to say that today parents no longer need to worry about the possibility that their children will fall prey to smallpox. Polio -- found now only in pockets of Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- is the target of an intense eradication effort that we hope will assign it to the history books by the end of this decade."
By Victoria Quinn , Senior Vice President of Programs, Helen Keller International
05.13.2012 - "There is a time in a child's life that has a profound impact on her ability to grow, learn and rise out of poverty. It's the 1,000 day window beginning with a mother's pregnancy through to her child's 2nd birthday. During these critical 1,000 days, ensuring that mothers and children have proper nutrition can have a profound impact not only on the individuals, but also on the long-term health, stability and development of entire communities and nations."
By Tom Arnold, CEO of Concern Worldwide US and Concern Worldwide
"Almost 1,000 days ago, on July 10, 2009, the G8 met at L'Aquila, Italy and issued a joint statement launching the 'L'Aquila Food Security Initiative' (AFSI), committing the member nations to a $22 billion investment over three years aimed at responding to the 'urgent need for decisive action to free humankind from hunger."
By Rob Lovelace , Senior Fellow, Trade Union Sustainable Development Unit
"You may not know anything about the G8, but if you've been moved to purchase a RED Starbuck's card or write a check to an organization working to end world hunger, improve the health of mothers and infants or to educate orphans you have a vested interest in what the G8 does at its annual summits."
By Michael Switow,Global council member, Global Call to Action Against Poverty
"When Barack Obama announces a 'major' food initiative during the 2012 G8 Summit, several African leaders will be by his side. But it's unlikely these heads of state had much say about the new policies. People living in poverty -- as well as the citizen organizations that work with them -- will have had even less input. After all, the G8 is not a representative body. It's a self-selected private club. Access is strictly limited, not just to the Summit but to the preparatory meetings where policy is actually made."
By Bruce Campbell Ph.D., Director, CGIAR Research Progamme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
"The upcoming G8 summit gives world leaders an important opportunity to address some of the most urgent challenges that our world faces. Of these, one of the most pressing and complex is ensuring the future of our food supply while simultaneously improving environmental sustainability within our globally interconnected food system."
By Roger Thurow, Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
"Go to the end of most any dirt road in rural Africa and you will see a small farmer, most likely a woman, tending her crops..."
By Bill Corcoran, President, ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid)
"As G-8 leaders hold their lengthy discussions about the challenges facing the world, they can reach out to the glass in front of them for a refreshing sip of water. What a luxury! ..."
By Julie Pace, White House reporter for The Associated Press
"President Barack Obama on Friday said the United States has a "moral imperative" to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition in Africa despite shrinking national budgets around the world."