| Media Success | Legislative Update | Benefit Events | Regional Workday |
Since January, Bay Area RESULTS volunteers have generated over 50 media items. We generated three editorials in the San Francisco Chronicle, one on international TB control, one on international AIDS control, and one on making the Child Tax Credit refundable, to benefit low-income American families with children. We generated an editorial in the Contra Costa Times on TB control. KPFA-FM ran two news interviews on TB. Several Alameda Newspaper Group papers, including the Oakland Tribune, ran articles about RESULTS volunteers lobbying in Washington, and about welfare reform. The Contra Costa Times ran an article on welfare reform. We generated over 30 letters in the above-mentioned papers and the Marin Independent Journal, USA Today, and others. Congratulations to at least 13 RESULTS volunteers who generated these media successes! Complete media success info, including links to generated media pieces
RESULTS' major global goals for 2001 are to increase funding for international TB control programs; to support the United Nations Global Health Fund to control AIDS, TB, malaria, and other diseases of poverty; and to strengthen last year's legislation restricting the ability of the World Bank and IMF to impose user fees to access basic health care and education as a loan condition.
TB and AIDS are the world's leading infectious killers. In 2000, Congress allocated $60 million to international TB control programs, more than doubling the previous year's funding. This year, RESULTS seeks $200 million as a U.S. fair share of the $1 billion that the World Health Organization (WHO) says is need annually to bring TB under control worldwide. The House of Representatives passed a bill providing $90 million in bilateral aid plus $20 million through the U.N. Global Health Fund, for a total of $110 million. The Senate is likely to pass a bill providing $70 million. We are working to cause a compromise at the House funding level when the bill goes to House-Senate conference.
Global Health Fund: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed a Global Health Fund of at least $7 billion annually to control AIDS, TB, malaria, and other diseases of poverty. President George W. Bush responded by offering a U.S. contribution of $200 million. The House of Representative passed a funding level of just $100 million, and the Senate appears poised to pass even less. RESULTS is working to encourage Congress to appropriate at least $1 billion to this fund.
Action: Write to your senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, urging their support for at least $1 billion for the U.N. Global Health Fund. Address: Senator ______, U.S. Senate, Washington DC 20510. Full Action alert (sorry, link deleted)
User Fees: Last year Congress passed legislation that restricts the ability of the World Bank and IMF to impose user fees on the poor to access basic health care and basic education. Such fees have resulted in tens of millions of children in subSaharan Africa being withdrawn from school. When such Uganda abolished its fees, school enrollment jumped from 50% to 90%. Unfortunately last year's legislation has a loophole that allows user fees to continue if the affected country implements a system for granting user fee waivers to the poor. Past experience has shown that these waiver systems do not work, and RESULTS is working to tighten last year's legislation by closing the "waiver" loophole.
Saturday, October 20,
2001, 7 to 9 pm
1845 Manzanita Drive, Oakland
Info: Sue Oehser, 510-339-0243
Sunday, October 21,
2001, 11 am to 1 pm
Woodside
Info: Wynne Hegarty, 650-nnn-nnnn
Sunday, November 4,
2001, 4-6 pm
Pacifica
Info: Sridhar Ramanathan, 650-nnn-nnnn
Join us in generating the political will to end
hunger and poverty.
Please come with a willingness to contribute to our work.
Rather than a two-day regional conference, we will have a RESULTS Workday Saturday, November 10 at the home of Sue Oehser in the Montclair district of Oakland. Please mark your calendar now. We are still planning the details, but we plan to start at 10 am and end at 7 or 8 pm. We will work on the necessary skills for building the capacity and effectiveness of RESULTS. For more information, speak with your group leader or Sue Oehser at 510-339-0243.