Give Children Everywhere a Shot@Life

by Melinda Richardson, Chair UNA-SNY Young Professionals

Young Professionals Host Happy Hour for the UN Foundation's Shot@Life Campaign

Ana Smolka and Melinda Richardson at the Young Professionals April Happy Hour for Shot@Life

Mothers walked down mountains for miles, took the only car in town on a three-hour journey, and there were countless other stories of mothers doing all they can to protect their children. We saw how much of an impact UNICEF and partnerships with governments has there with the vaccination rate now at nearly 90%. We can help and our support makes a big difference.The end of April marks World Immunization Week. Globally this is a week to raise awareness for life-saving immunizations, progress made, and the work yet to be completed. Around the world, every 20 seconds a child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease and one in five children lacks access to basic vaccines for diseases such as measles, pneumonia and diarrhea.

The United Nations Foundation's Shot@Life campaign engages Americans to advocate and raise funds to ensure vaccines reach children in developing countries. These are countries where mothers do not have the luxury of choice. They will walk for miles to access vaccines for their children.

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I saw this firsthand last year during a trip to the Philippines with Shot@Life. Following a measles outbreak there, all mothers wanted to do was to inoculate their children, and yet this is something that is still difficult to do. ​Mothers walked down mountains for miles, took the only car in town on a three-hour journey, and there were countless other stories of mothers doing all they can to protect their children. We saw how much of an impact UNICEF and partnerships with governments has there with the vaccination rate now at nearly 90%. We can help and our support makes a big difference.

The good news is vaccines have saved millions of lives and progress is strong. We have seen a 79% reduction in global measles deaths. Here in the U.S., we can have a real impact on these efforts and help save lives of children around the world. Funding for global vaccine programs is less than 1% of the total U.S. budget, but this funding helps save 2.5 million lives every year.

The United Nations Association Young Professionals here in New York are advocating and raising awareness for this important cause. Just last week we hosted a happy hour to raise awareness, support and funding for this important cause attended by over 50 young professionals. Join us in the fight to give very child around the world a shot at a healthy life. Learn more at [email protected].

Melinda Richardson,
Chair, United Nations Association Young Professionals, Southern New York Division