Whitehorse Star,
July 22, 2010
I want to see this in my lifetime
To the editor,
I'm 63 and the recent G-8 Summit is getting us closer to my lifelong dream: an era in which children thrive.
Indeed, UNICEF's Kul Gautam said there were two turning points in this historic endeavour. First, the World Summit for Children in 1990 since which child mortality rates were cut by half. Then, the recent G8 Summit with its signature theme of child and maternal health.
These events were presided respectively by Canadian Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper. Why? Because they were supported by citizens who believe extreme poverty can and must be ended.
Now, to invest the amounts promised at the G-8 in the best possible ways, I suggest doubling the Canadian contribution to a) the Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives and to b) the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.
The GFATM is not all about mothers and children, but it launched a campaign so that by 2015, all babies will be "Born HIV Free."
Another of its goals is that, by 2020, malaria will no longer be a major epidemic. I want to see this in my lifetime.
Pamela Walden-Landry
Montréal, Que.
- Pamela Walden-Landry, Montréal
