UN – United Nations

Today the UN Foundation blog continues our series, “5 Days, 5 Facts, 5 Reasons to Act” with a focus on girls’ education. FEATURED FACT: If we want to drive progress in the world, we need to make sure girls are in the driver’s seat of their own lives. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has written, “There is no more valuable investment than in a girl’s education.” Here’s why: When girls are educated, they are more […]

Our blog series“5 Days, 5 Facts, 5 Reasons to Act” today highlights progress in the fight against malaria, a Millennium Development Goal priority. FEATURED FACT: Thanks to global efforts to fight malaria, such as distributing bednets that protect families from the mosquitoes that carry the disease, malaria mortality rates have decreased by 47% worldwide and by 54% in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000. However, despite major progress, malaria still remains a major global health threat. Every

Our blog series “5 Days, 5 Facts, 5 Reasons to Act” today highlights improvements in maternal health, an important aim of the Millennium Development Goals. FEATURED FACT: Healthy mothers mean healthy families. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “When mothers die, their families are much more vulnerable, and their infants are more likely to die before reaching their second birthday.” Most maternal deaths are preventable, and the UN and partners have mobilized to expand access to

Our blog series “5 Days, 5 Facts, 5 Reasons to Act” concludes today with a focus on global progress in reducing extreme poverty. FEATURED FACT: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called the Millennium Development Goals “the most successful global anti-poverty push in history.” According to the UN, in 1990, close to half of the people in developing regions lived on less than $1.25 a day, and by 2010, only 22% of the developing world was

We are just months away from the United Nations Post-2015 Summit in September, when world leaders will come together to adopt a new set of global goals to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There is clear consensus that successful implementation of the new global goals in 2016 will be rooted in reliable, accurate, and timely data. Strong data will help to show us where we need to focus our interventions – such as ensuring

“Why didn’t you tell us about all of these things?” my 9-year-old daughter recently asked me as she feverishly jotted down notes about poverty, gender inequality, climate change, and other global challenges. We were on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the Global Citizen Earth Day festival, hearing from speakers and performers about the injustices facing billions of people around the world, and my daughter wanted to know why my generation hasn’t been moving

Photo: Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images Reportage Last week, we attended the Cartagena Data Festival in Colombia, where more than 450 participants from many disciplines joined forces in a three-day event focused on solving critical gaps in global development data and creating opportunities for improved data collection for the post-2015 development agenda. The proposed Sustainable Development Goals include a commitment to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” To monitor progress toward this goal and

Photo: Stuart Ramson for UN Foundation Good news: Rubella has been eliminated from the Americas! Last week the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) announced that an independent expert committee had declared the Americas region free of the endemic transmission of rubella. Rubella is a contagious disease that can cause severe birth defects and fetal death when contracted by pregnant women. Worldwide, more than 100,000 babies are born each year with congenital rubella syndrome.

Our “Supporter Spotlight” series continues with a discussion with Sarah Mayer, a student at the University of Iowa who works closely with the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign. Sarah, who will graduate this month, has worked closely with Shot@Life since the fall of 2014 to help protect children from preventable diseases by expanding access to life-saving vaccines. Question: What motivates you to work with Shot@Life? Sarah Mayer: I’ve always wanted to make an impact in the