yonnetim

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit Uganda to learn about how the country is providing reproductive health information and services for men, women, and their communities and ended up having one of the most profound trips of my professional life. Uganda has seen some progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals, but faces significant challenges when it comes to providing essential health care to its population. The Ugandan […]

I often think about Namda, a refugee teen I met when I traveled to Ethiopia. She was an incredible force with an inspiring story and an unquenched passion for learning. Namda fled Somalia in 2008, when she was just 9 years old, and still lives in a refugee camp in Ethiopia run by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). But Namda didn’t want her story to end there. Unlike most girls living as refugees, Namda was fortunate

I am excited to announce the launch of the fourth year of the Get a Shot. Give a Shot.® campaign in collaboration with Walgreens. For every flu shot or any immunization administered at Walgreens, the Healthcare Clinic at select Walgreens, and Duane Reade in New York now through August 31, 2017, Walgreens will donate the value of one lifesaving vaccine through the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign (up to $2 million). To date, this partnership has

In just a few weeks, the world will come to New York for the opening of the next session of the UN General Assembly – what is often called “UN General Assembly week.” During this time, which takes place every September, the UN will convene leaders from heads of state to heads of companies to advance solutions to today’s global problems. As head of the UN Foundation’s New York office, this occasion is a reminder of both

On the margins of this year’s United Nations General Assembly, there are two key events focused on refugees that we’ll be watching closely as the world continues to grapple with the largest refugee crisis ever. The first is the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants hosted by the President of the General Assembly on September 19 at UN Headquarters in New York City. The summit will bring the international community together to come up with

In August, I joined the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council, a group of leading entrepreneurs committed to finding innovative solutions to global problems, on a trip to Sweden and Jordan to learn how these countries are addressing the rising number of refugees coming into their borders and how private sector leaders can support refugees. Right now, more than 65 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced – the highest number ever recorded.

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) in Washington, D.C. recently released its latest population size and population growth estimates. The global levels and trends that the fact sheet presents are a bit dizzying, as any figures with so many zeroes are. PRB estimates that there are 7.4 billion (that is, 7,400,000,000) people in the world today and this is projected to rise to 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.9 billion in 2050. But it is the

In August, the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council visited Sweden and Jordan to learn more about how those countries are handling the refugee crisis and how entrepreneurs and private sector leaders can help support refugees. A major challenge for many refugees in Sweden is the absence of a social network – the friends, mentors, and acquaintances who can help them find jobs, provide support, and navigate life in a new country. This is an