Three Million Give 'Thumbs Up' to Saving Children's Lives

    
    Claire Danes to unveil unique visual petition in Grand Central Terminal on
    Monday 20th September, 1300 hrs





    
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<p>NEW YORK, <span class="xn-chron">Sept. 20</span> /CNW/ -- Emmy award-winning actress <span class="xn-person">Claire Danes</span> will join millions of people who've added their thumbprints to an innovative and unique global petition at Grand Central Terminal, lead by global humanitarian organisation Save the Children.</p>
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<p>The thumbprint mosaic has been designed by New York-based artist <span class="xn-person">Ian Wright</span> and represents the support of three million people from 40 countries who have taken part in Save the Children's EVERY ONE campaign. The campaign aims to put pressure on world leaders meeting at the United Nations in New York, to do more to stop children dying needlessly of preventable and treatable causes.</p>
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<p>"Every three seconds in the developing world a child dies needlessly due to lack of basic health care and other things we all take for granted," said <span class="xn-person">Claire Danes</span>, a Save the Children supporter.  "I'm here today to add my thumbprint and my support to this cause, just one of three million people from across the globe - from the poorest communities to world leaders - who have signed up to Save the Children's EVERY ONE campaign."</p>
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<p>The campaign has also been backed by notable people around the globe such as <span class="xn-person">Hugh Laurie</span>, Kevin McKidd, <span class="xn-person">Sally Field</span>, <span class="xn-person">Mark Ruffalo</span>, Laila Rouas, <span class="xn-person">Amanda Holden</span>, Dame <span class="xn-person">Judi Dench</span>, <span class="xn-person">Annie Lennox</span> and Bollywood stars Kunal Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Shabana Azmi, Gurinder Chadha, Onir, and Amrita Raichand.</p>
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<p>The thumbprints will be handed over to a high level representative of the United Nations, which hosts a summit this week to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed targets to tackle poverty. Save the Children is calling for an action plan to be agreed to by all governments, to reach the Millennium Goal of cutting child deaths by two thirds by 2015. Hitting this target would save the lives of 15 million children by 2015, the charity said. It would involve improving children's access to basic health care, nutrition, water, sanitation and education.</p>
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<p>"This is a make or break opportunity," said Save the Children's global CEO <span class="xn-person">Jasmine Whitbread</span>.  "Proven, low-tech and inexpensive solutions exist to stop children dying. What we need is the will - from politicians, the public, aid agencies, companies, EVERY ONE - to make it happen on a global scale. We know what works; we need world leaders to turn their promises into a plan."</p>
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<p>As well as lending their thumbprints to the visual petition, supporters of the EVERY ONE campaign have contributed in a number of different ways.</p>
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    --  In Italy Italian Serie A team, Fiorentina, recently donated euro
        250,000 for the EVERY ONE campaign and will feature the logo on their
        official shirts for the season. Go Fiorentina!
    --  Hundreds of supporters made their mark in Australia at the UN
        Conference on Health held in Melbourne on 30 August - 148,000
        Australians have now signed up to the campaign.
    --  Last week the Nistarini women's college in West Bengal, India 500
        college students signed up for the campaign and committed to document
        real case studies in nearby villages and spread awareness.
    --  Over 41,000 people recently signed up and used their thumbprints to
        press for change at a series of events across Bangladesh.
    --  In Colombia well-known stars led a public campaign by adding their
        thumbprint to the campaign, leading to over 3,000 supporters.
    --  In Denmark a knitting explosion has seen tens of thousands of people
        taking direct action to save children's lives by knitting caps for
        newborns.
    --  In Egypt over 600,000 people have taken action by signing petitions or
        campaigning in the streets.
    --  In Ethiopia over 15,000 people have already taken action for the
        campaign, taking part in rallies, meetings and Ethiopia's first ever
        half marathon.
    --  In Canada, almost 6,000 EVERY ONE supporters helped push the Canadian
        government to use its Presidency of the G8 to focus the development
        agenda on maternal and child health. The G8 leaders committed $5
        billion and committed to saving the lives of 1.4 million children,
        64,000 mothers and the distribution of modern methods of contraception
        to 12 million couples.
    --  In India, community mobilisation campaigns, celebrity engagement and
        corporate partners has resulted in 104,000 thumbprints.
    --  The UK team has lead a major national initiative involving
celebrities,
        media and events which has lead to over 635,000 thumbprint supporters
        to date.

    
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<p>Today's New York launch will be attended by <span class="xn-person">Jasmine Whitbread</span>, Chief Executives of Save the Children from seven countries as well as other representatives from around the globe.</p>
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<p>The charity will be collecting additional thumbprints throughout the day in Grand Central Terminal  - just 4 avenues from the meeting of world leaders at the UN Summit.</p>
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    Notes for editors:
    --  For interviews and more information, please contact: Ben Hewitt,
        Project Director, Newborn and Child Survival, 00 44 7821 695 024,
        [email protected] or Katy Gray, Weber Shandwick,
        917-848-8997, [email protected]

    --  Video footage showing the stories of children in developing countries,
        and the installation launch will be available to download. Please
        contact Ben Hewitt, Project Director, Newborn and Child Survival, 00
44
        7821 695 024, [email protected]

    --  Save the Children's Report "A Fair Chance in Life," can be read at
        http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/54_12454.htm

    --  The report demonstrates how the deaths of 4 million children could be
        prevented over a ten year period if countries took a fairer approach
to
        their spending on healthcare, clean water and sanitation, and
        nutrition.

    --  Unicef has released a report (17.09.10) announcing new figures a fall
        in the number of deaths among children aged under 5. Globally, death
        rate has fallen from 12.4 million to 8.1 million. The report can be
        read here: http://www.unicef.org/media/media_56045.html

    --  For more information, please visit www.everyone.org for the global
        EVERY ONE campaign and www.goodgoes.org in the U.S.




    

For further information: Ben Hewitt, Project Director, Newborn and Child Survival, 00 44 7821 695 024, [email protected] or Katy Gray, Weber Shandwick, [phone], [email protected] Web Site: http://www.everyone.org http://www.goodgoes.org