A mother waits at the health clinic for her child to receive routine immunization care in Hua Ngai Commune of Dien Bien, a northern mountainous province of Viet Nam. One of the biggest challenges the country faces is providing health services in hard-to-reach mountainous regions. Child mortality is two times higher in rural areas, like Hua Ngai, than urban areas. Dien Bien has made a lot of progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, which set […]

Photo credit: UNICEF/Tom Pietrasik With a measles outbreak making headlines in the United States, we thought it would be a good time to repost the piece we shared last year on six reasons why you should care about eliminating measles around the world, a key priority for the United Nations and the UN Foundation. We’ve also updated the post with the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO). About 400 people, mostly children, die

Photo: Rollins College  This February, the United States celebrates the annual African American History month – a month to honor African American leaders and activists who have driven social progress and advanced justice. The United Nations Foundation is fortunate to receive advice and guidance from a giant in the movement for a more just and equal America and world: board member Andrew Young. Young was a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during

Strengthening the health of women and children is a key priority for the United Nations, and one of the best ways to do this is to expand access to quality health services. According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), well-trained midwives could help avert roughly two-thirds of all maternal and newborn deaths. Recently, the UN Foundation hosted a press fellowship in Viet Nam to give journalists a chance to learn more about the success and

Valentine’s Day is about showing that you care. With news earlier this month from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization that 2014 was the “hottest year on record,” that “14 of the 15 hottest years recorded have all been in the 21st century,” and that climate change is expected to continue, it’s clear we need to do more to show the planet we care. Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – made up of

Photo: Children in Madagascar are protected from mosquitoes that carry malaria by an insecticide-treated net. Instead of the buying the usual chocolates or roses, what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than making a difference in someone’s life? For $10, you can ““Gift a Net” through the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign and help a family in Africa sleep safe from malaria. Every 60 seconds, a child dies from malaria – a preventable

According to a 2004 World Bank report, nearly half of Ethiopia’s population lives in poverty. As of today, February 13, only 150 days remain until the major U.N. Financing for Development (FfD) conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Starting on July 13, government leaders from around the world will convene to set ground rules for investing in the world’s sustainable development goals (SDG) to 2030, which heads of state and governments will confirm this September in

This week, United Nations Member States continue the intergovernmental negotiations on the “post-2015 development agenda.” Yes, that’s a wonky sentence – but the post-2015 agenda, a framework to address pressing global challenges over the next 15 years, will have a big real-world impact, so we want to spend a minute breaking down what the agenda is and why you should care. What is the post-2015 development agenda? Simply put: It will be our collective “to-do”