New Venture to Improve Child Health in Latin America Unveiled
GDLN, Medical Missions for Children and the World Bank to use digital technology to save children’s lives in the Western Hemisphere
Press Release No:2006/316/LAC
Medical Missions for Children: Michelle Shortencarrier
(202) 414-0791
mShortencarrier@susandavis.com
WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 – The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), Medical Missions for Children (MMC) and the World Bank announced a new partnership today to close the rapidly growing knowledge gap between the North and South in an effort to better serve the medical needs of catastrophically ill children in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Through the new expanded network, the Global Telemedicine & Teaching Network™ (GTTN), a satellite and Internet-based communications platform, GDLN and MMC will improve treatment of remote, critically ill children in real-time.
“Child health has improved across the United States and in some Latin America countries due in large part to improved health care. However, new life-saving technologies have yet to arrive in many areas,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank Regional Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean in her opening remarks. “We hope this new partnership will enable the development community to transfer desperately needed medical knowledge from the United States to medical facilities in urban and rural areas throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.”
According to the UNICEF, about 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die worldwide every day, mainly from preventable causes worldwide. More than 70 percent of almost 11 million child deaths every year are attributable to six causes: diarrhea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, preterm delivery, or lack of oxygen at birth.
Consequently, MMC helps children in 36 countries using both the Global Telemedicine & Teaching Network and the World Bank’s global network.
“In today’s world where medical knowledge is expected to double in the next five to ten years, it becomes increasingly important for organizations such as the World Bank’s Global Development Learning Network and Medical Missions for Children to pool their resources in order to meet the challenge of disseminating information to the global medical community,” said Tommy Thompson, former US Secretary for Health and Human Services and MMC Board member.
“The role of Medical Missions for Children is quite simple,” said Frank Brady, co-Founding member of MMC, “It’s to deliver medical knowledge from those who have it to those who need it. This eventually raises the level of medical expertise within a given a hospital, thus allowing them to better serve their community and have a positive affect on patient outcomes.”
Medical Missions for Children’s goal is to affect the lives of one million children a year. Since 1999, MMC has helped nearly 23,500 catastrophically ill children.
In September of 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in human history gathered for the Millennium Summit at United Nations headquarters in New York, ultimately launching a set of targets and goals to reduce poverty worldwide. The forth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is to reduce child mortality by two-thirds, from 93 children of every 1,000 dying before age five in 1990 to 31 of every 1,000 in 2015. The United Nations system and other important international institutions such as the World Bank are building partnerships with civil society to improve the lives of poor people around the world.
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For more information on the Global Development Learning Network’s (GDLN)work in Latin America, please visit: http://lac.gdln.org/program_focus/health/gdln_health/gdln-health_offerings.htm
For more information on the Medical Missions for Children (MMC), please visit: http://www.mmissions.org/index.htm
For information on a past joint GDLN-MMC activity, please visit:
http://lac.gdln.org/news/diabetes_pediatrica_eng.htm
GDLN, Medical Missions for Children and the World Bank to use digital technology to save children’s lives in the Western Hemisphere
Press Release No:2006/316/LAC
Medical Missions for Children: Michelle Shortencarrier
(202) 414-0791
mShortencarrier@susandavis.com
WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 – The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), Medical Missions for Children (MMC) and the World Bank announced a new partnership today to close the rapidly growing knowledge gap between the North and South in an effort to better serve the medical needs of catastrophically ill children in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Through the new expanded network, the Global Telemedicine & Teaching Network™ (GTTN), a satellite and Internet-based communications platform, GDLN and MMC will improve treatment of remote, critically ill children in real-time.
“Child health has improved across the United States and in some Latin America countries due in large part to improved health care. However, new life-saving technologies have yet to arrive in many areas,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank Regional Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean in her opening remarks. “We hope this new partnership will enable the development community to transfer desperately needed medical knowledge from the United States to medical facilities in urban and rural areas throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.”
According to the UNICEF, about 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die worldwide every day, mainly from preventable causes worldwide. More than 70 percent of almost 11 million child deaths every year are attributable to six causes: diarrhea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, preterm delivery, or lack of oxygen at birth.
Consequently, MMC helps children in 36 countries using both the Global Telemedicine & Teaching Network and the World Bank’s global network.
“In today’s world where medical knowledge is expected to double in the next five to ten years, it becomes increasingly important for organizations such as the World Bank’s Global Development Learning Network and Medical Missions for Children to pool their resources in order to meet the challenge of disseminating information to the global medical community,” said Tommy Thompson, former US Secretary for Health and Human Services and MMC Board member.
“The role of Medical Missions for Children is quite simple,” said Frank Brady, co-Founding member of MMC, “It’s to deliver medical knowledge from those who have it to those who need it. This eventually raises the level of medical expertise within a given a hospital, thus allowing them to better serve their community and have a positive affect on patient outcomes.”
Medical Missions for Children’s goal is to affect the lives of one million children a year. Since 1999, MMC has helped nearly 23,500 catastrophically ill children.
In September of 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in human history gathered for the Millennium Summit at United Nations headquarters in New York, ultimately launching a set of targets and goals to reduce poverty worldwide. The forth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is to reduce child mortality by two-thirds, from 93 children of every 1,000 dying before age five in 1990 to 31 of every 1,000 in 2015. The United Nations system and other important international institutions such as the World Bank are building partnerships with civil society to improve the lives of poor people around the world.
-###-
For more information on the Global Development Learning Network’s (GDLN)work in Latin America, please visit: http://lac.gdln.org/program_focus/health/gdln_health/gdln-health_offerings.htm
For more information on the Medical Missions for Children (MMC), please visit: http://www.mmissions.org/index.htm
For information on a past joint GDLN-MMC activity, please visit:
http://lac.gdln.org/news/diabetes_pediatrica_eng.htm
