Secretary Geithner to Join President Clinton at CGI America

The First Clinton Global Initiative Meeting Focused Solely on the U.S. Will Highlight Innovative Ideas for Spurring Job Creation and Economic Growth

More Than 600 Leaders From Business, Government, and Civil Society To Attend, Including Haley Barbour, Stephanie Burns, Mitch Daniels, Rahm Emanuel, Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., Jennifer Granholm, John Hickenlooper, Tony Hsieh, Judith Rodin, James E. Rogers, and Tom Vilsack

June 16, 2011, NEW YORK — Today, President Bill Clinton announced the program and featured participants for CGI America, which will bring together more than 600 leaders from businesses, nonprofits, and all levels of government to develop and highlight ideas for spurring economic growth and creating jobs in the United States. The event, the first Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting to focus exclusively on the U.S., will take place in Chicago on June 29-30.

"I am looking forward to taking the Clinton Global Initiative model -- which has already improved the lives of 300 million people worldwide -- and applying it to challenges within the U.S.," President Clinton said. “Innovative job creation initiatives are being implemented across the country, and CGI America will bring together leaders from all sectors to share their ideas so we can replicate and expand the most successful strategies."

At CGI America, participants will focus on strengthening American industries, unlocking capital for innovation and entrepreneurship, advancing energy efficiency and smart infrastructure, and educating the next generation for the workforce. The CGI America program will include panel discussions on:

• Education in America: Regaining Our Edge, which will explore how to revitalize the U.S. educational system and train American workers for the 21^st century economy;
• American Success Stories, which will highlight leaders who have spurred job growth by developing creative responses to unique local challenges; and
• Energy Innovation and the Built Environment, which will explore how cities can create jobs and reduce emissions by making buildings more sustainable.

The meeting will also include working groups on green buildings, the healthcare workforce, infrastructure, manufacturing, the rural economy, service corps, startups, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, veteran employment, and workforce development. During the working group sessions, participants will develop Commitments to Action – new, specific, and measurable plans to spur job creation and improve the economy.

At the closing session of CGI America, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will join President Clinton for a special one-on-one conversation about the state of the economy and the Obama Administration's plans to help spur private sector job creation and improve America’s competitiveness.

Featured participants also include Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi, Stephanie Burns, chairman of Dow Corning, Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, Anthony Foxx, mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, John Hickenlooper, governor of Colorado, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, Bob McCann, CEO of UBS Wealth Management Americas, Pete Peterson, founder of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Michael Porter, professor at Harvard Business School, J.B. Pritzker, managing partner, the Pritzker Group, Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, James E. Rogers, chairman, president, and CEO of Duke Energy, Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Other corporations and organizations participating in CGI America include Aetna, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, APCO Worldwide, Applied Materials, AstraZeneca, Bank of America, Bayer, Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BD), Best Buy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Brookings Institution, BT Group, CareerBuilder.com, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Center for American Progress, Cisco, City Year, the Coca-Cola Company, Covanta Energy, Darden Restaurants, Deutsche Bank Americas, the Dow Chemical Company, the Economist, Edelman, Eli Lilly & Company, Ernst & Young, ExxonMobil, Facebook, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, the Ford Foundation, the Goldman Sachs Group, Habitat for Humanity International, Hertz, Hess, Intel, the J.B. & M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson Controls, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kiva.org, LinkedIn, Lockheed Martin, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, the Newsweek Daily Beast Company, NRG Energy, Pat Tillman Foundation, Paychex, Procter & Gamble, Prudential Financial, Rotary International, Teach for America, the Travelers Companies, United Auto Workers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Labor, United Nations Foundation, USAID, Verizon Wireless, Visa, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, and Zynga.

For more information please visit www.CGIAmerica.org and follow @ClintonGlobal (http://twitter.com/clintonglobal) for meeting news and highlights. The event hashtag is #CGIAmerica. Detailed press logistical information is below.

CGI is grateful to the sponsors of CGI America: the J.B. & M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, Tom Golisano, the Dow Chemical Company, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and ExxonMobil.

About the Clinton Global Initiative

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings, which take place in New York each September, have brought together nearly 150 current and former heads of state, 18 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, along with heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organizations, and prominent members of the media. These CGI members have made nearly 2,000 commitments, which have already improved the lives of 300 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued in excess of $63 billion. The 2011 Annual Meeting will take place September 19-22 in New York City.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Landesa Continues its Growth in Staff and Impact with a Prominent New Hire

Jolyne Sanjak Named New Chief Program Officer

SEATTLE – Landesa, which has doubled its global program staff over the last two years, has announced that Jolyne Sanjak, a managing director at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, will join Landesa as chief program officer on July 20. Landesa works with governments around the world to craft solutions to ensure the rural poor have legal control over their land.

Dr. Sanjak is one of the world’s foremost experts on how broad, secure land rights can spark sustainable economic development for individuals, families and communities. She brings to Landesa more than 20 years of technical and managerial experience.

“I’m delighted that Jolyne, who is recognized as an authority in the field, is joining Landesa at such a critical chapter in our history,” said Tim Hanstad, Landesa president and CEO. “Landesa and the issue of land rights in general are gaining momentum within the global development community as a fundamental building block for alleviating extreme poverty. Jolyne’s expertise and shared passion for addressing the root cause of poverty will be a tremendous asset to us as we continue to scale for impact around the world.”

Prior to joining MCC, Dr. Sanjak worked as specialist on land policy and rural development in USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Sanjak was formerly assistant professor of economics at the State University of New York at Albany. She holds a Ph.D. in agricultural economics with a specialization in development economics from the University of Wisconsin. She also holds a MS in agricultural economics from Penn State University.

She joins an organization that has, despite the poor economy, expanded its staff and impact dramatically over the last few years and has ambitious plans for the future.

“Like many others in the international aid sector, I have long been an admirer of Landesa’s commitment to link the critical components of land ownership and legal rights to land to fostering economic progress,” said Dr. Sanjak. “It’s a personal and professional privilege for me to join an organization that has more than four decades of program experience, while at the same time is charting a course for rapid growth and scaled success.”

Landesa, established in Seattle in 1967 and for years run out of a one bedroom apartment in the University District by a skeleton staff, changed its name from Rural Development Institute earlier this year and moved into expanded office space in downtown Seattle. The organization has helped more than 100 million poor families gain secure land rights and a path out of poverty since its founding. Over the next five years it plans on helping another 20 million poor families in China, India, and Africa gain legal control over their land.

With just over 100 staff world-wide, Landesa accomplishes this huge impact by working in partnership with governments on laws, policies, and programs that have the potential to affect millions at a time. This innovative model allows Landesa to deliver sustainable, durable and transformational change at a low cost.

While many organizations work “around” governments, Landesa considers them part of the solution. Their model is built on collaboration with public and private sector players to create structural change.

Landesa’s work is tailored to each geography and based on extensive research to help find solutions to the obstacles faced by poor landless families. In China, Landesa’s model has been to advise the government in its continued land reform programs to ensure that farm families have the confidence in their land tenure to make long term investments in their land that can boost their income and their family’s nutrition. In India, Landesa and its partners, including RDI-India, work with state governments to help design, implement and monitor pilot programs aimed at giving farming families legal control over micro-plots of land or, in some cases, the plots they currently farm as squatters. In Africa, likewise, Landesa’s programs meet the challenges of local conditions. In Kenya, Landesa is helping the government balance the needs of poor landless families with the conservation efforts. In Liberia, Landesa is advising the government’s land commission to ensure that strong conflict resolution institutions are established to help the country avert another war.

“We know that 75 percent of the world’s poorest subsist in rural settings, and more than a billion of them have little to no legal control over the land they till,” said Hanstad. “We’re happy that Jolyne is joining our team – she understands that gaining rights to your own land is, for millions of poor families, the first step out of extreme poverty.”

Background on Landesa

Grounded in the knowledge that having legal rights to land is a foundation for prosperity and opportunity, Landesa partners with governments and local organizations to ensure that the world’s poorest families have secure rights over the land they till. Founded as the Rural Development Institute in 1967, Landesa has helped more than 100 million poor families gain legal control over their land. When families have secure rights to land, they can invest in their land to sustainably increase their harvests and reap the benefits—improved nutrition, health, education, and dignity—for generations.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Save the Date: Women Deliver Announces Third Conference Will Be Held in Malaysia in 2013

A global event devoted to increasing investment in girls and women will bring together advocates, UN agencies, researchers, government officials, and global leaders

New York – Women Deliver announced today that it will hold its third conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 28-30 May 2013. The first Women Deliver conference to take place in Asia, this landmark event will push global and local leaders to deliver solutions that will ensure the health and well-being of girls and women around the world.

“In 2010, more than 3,400 people came together at the Women Deliver conference to stand behind one message: invest in women – it pays,” said Women Deliver Founder and President Jill Sheffield. “Women Deliver 2013 will build on these commitments, and it will launch a new era of engagement among all partners working together to improve maternal health and deliver for girls and women everywhere.”

The 2013 conference will focus on accelerating progress in the final push to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG5), which aims to reduce maternal mortality and ensure universal access to reproductive health by 2015, and ensure that progress can continue beyond the MDG deadline. A leader in progressive health policies within Asia, Malaysia has made remarkable improvements in maternal health. It is also home to prominent advocates such as Zainah Anwar and Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, who were recently honored by Women Deliver for being among the 100 most inspiring people delivering for girls and women today.

Women Deliver 2013 will build on the commitments and investments made in 2010, including the Muskoka Initiative launched by the leaders of the G8, the resigning of the Maputo Plan of Action by the African Union, and the Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. “Women Deliver 2013 will be an opportunity for the world to reassess our progress on MDG5 and set ambitious but realistic goals for impacting maternal mortality and reproductive health access for 2015 and beyond,” said Sheffield.

The conference will be held in the city of Kuala Lumpur over three days on 28-30 May 2013.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Partnering for Global Health Forum on June 27

High-level members of the Obama Administration will gather with leaders from the biopharmaceutical and global health communities at the Partnering for Global Health Forum on June 27 in Washington, DC, to discuss ways to speed the development of new medical tools — drugs, vaccines and diagnostics — to address the most persistent challenges in global health.

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, will deliver a keynote address on how ground-breaking innovations in biotechnology can save lives in the world’s poorest countries. Leading panelists from around the world will also offer insights on how life-saving products are transformed from ideas in the world’s laboratories to new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for patients in developing countries. Speakers include Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of USAID, Dr. Regina Rabinovich, Director of the Infectious Diseases Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Dr. Hassan Mshinda, Director General of the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology.

During the Forum — top decision-makers from emerging markets will share insights on how biopharmaceutical companies and product development partnerships can effectively engage in neglected disease product development. Dr. Maharaj K. Bhan, Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology in India, will be joined by Dr. Bongi Gumede of South Africa's Technology Innovation Agency, Minister Lino Barañao of Argentina's Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovative Production, and Julio Ramundo, Director at the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), to discuss strategies for making real progress on developing and introducing novel drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics in their countries.

Those unable to attend the Partnering for Global Health Forum in person don’t have to miss a moment of the meeting by registering for the Dynamic Webcast. Viewers will have the opportunity to take on an interactive role by submitting questions online and in real-time to the moderators and panelists.

Learn more about the 2011 Partnering for Global Health Forum, which will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and is co-hosted by BIO Ventures for Global Health and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), here

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Ending vertical transmission of HIV

New York, June 9, 2011 – World leaders gathered at the United Nations this week must ensure that they have a road map and funding in place to deliver on their stated commitments to end vertical transmission of HIV.

Working in partnership with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), community-based researchers in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Nigeria collected testimonies that reveal gaps between national policies on vertical transmission and the lived experiences of women and health care providers.

“We welcome our President’s renewed commitment at the United Nations this week to Nigeria’s ambitious national targets aimed at ending vertical transmission of HIV by 2015,” said Abosede Oladayo of the Olive Leaf Charity Foundation in Nigeria and a member of the ITPC research team. “We now need our government and others in Africa to tackle the multiple barriers, such as the cost of antenatal care and the stigma that women in our communities face when accessing these services.”

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated guidelines on prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV based on the latest science and the need to put women’s health at the center of these programs.

“Recent scientific evidence on the broad health and prevention benefits of earlier initiation of HIV treatment should serve as a clarion call to governments to adopt the new WHO guidelines on preventing vertical transmission,” said Aditi Sharma, of ITPC. “As governments agree a global plan for ending vertical transmission they must ensure that women are provided with the most effective drugs both to prevent transmission to their babies and for their own health and have access to the best prevention and family planning interventions available.”

Research teams in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Nigeria interviewed women, health care workers and community members on the delivery of vertical transmission programs. While there were policies to address some of the barriers to access that women highlighted, implementation was patchy. More information about the gap between policies and practice in these countries is available in the attached briefing and at four4women.org

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Activists and Researchers: Evidence Shows We Can End the AIDS Epidemic

International coalition calls for clear actions from world leaders

New York, June 7, 2011 – An international coalition of scientists and activists today launched a common platform for ending the AIDS epidemic. Thirty years into the epidemic, as world leaders come together at the United Nations to recommit to a global AIDS response, the broad-based international coalition issued a statement calling for world leaders to support a rational, evidence-based approach to responding to AIDS. The group also calls for additional signatories to the declaration.

“As at so many other critical points in the epidemic, we have the opportunity now to use the fruits of science and research to show the way forward. Putting more people on AIDS treatment will save lives and prevent new infections, and will also help build and strengthen platforms for delivering comprehensive health services in resource-poor settings,” said Paul Farmer, Harvard University Professor and co-founder of Partners In Health. “We have the knowledge and the tools to reverse the epidemic—and we must not fail to use them.”

The declaration, “We Can End the AIDS Epidemic,” argues that highly-active antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV positive people is a preventive strategy that is a cornerstone to ending the epidemic.

The founding group of signatories includes African Services Committee, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, AIDS United, amfAR, AVAC, ATHENA Network, Black AIDS Institute, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Fenway Health/The Fenway Institute, GIV, Health GAP, HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, International Community of Women Living with HIV, International Rectal Microbicide Advocates, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society, Open Society Public Health Program, Partners In Health, Project Inform, Treatment Action Campaign, Treatment Action Group, and the Wits Institute for Reproductive Health and HIV, and more than two dozen leading the global AIDS researchers and advocates.

“This statement represents the common vision of scientists and activists to halt the epidemic. For the first time in three decades, we now have the real potential to end the AIDS epidemic. The question now is will we?” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director. “Recent breakthroughs in AIDS vaccine, PrEP and microbicide research suggest powerful, additional tools for the future. Right now, the scientific evidence that treatment is prevention must serve as a clarion call to funders, policy makers and program implementers to move forward boldly and quickly to capitalize on the conclusive evidence provided by the clinical trial HPTN 052.”

HPTN 052 found that earlier initiation of antiretroviral treatment provides a health benefit to HIV-positive people, and is a highly powerful tool for preventing transmission to sexual partners.

The statement calls for:

• • World leaders to adopt ambitious treatment and prevention targets.
• • Donors, including PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to evaluate existing and new funds with core activities including antiretroviral treatment for individuals with CD4 cell counts at 350 or above
• • All working on the AIDS response to end non-integrated, artificially-separated approaches to funding and delivering treatment and prevention services.
• • Donors, communities, implementers, industry and researchers to map and execute an implementation research agenda for ART as part of combination prevention strategies.

“The most expensive, least effective strategy is to continue spending on AIDS the way that we are today,” said Nono Eland of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign. “We need more resources and better strategy. Funds need to be aligned with what is known to work—and reprogrammed where needed. We have no time to waste. World leaders at the UN this week should make clear commitments to the platform outlined in this statement.”

According to the declaration, and consistent with a new investment framework from UNAIDS published last week in the Lancet, funding needs to be directed to evidence-based strategies with combination ART as a cornerstone of a set of proven strategies to prevent and treat HIV, including male and female condoms, male circumcision, prevention of vertical transmission, behavior change programs that target social norms as well as individual risk, and activities addressing key populations including sex workers, men who have sex with men and harm reduction programs for injecting drug users. Funds that are not aligned with these core activities need to be justified and, where applicable, reprogrammed.

“The scientific evidence is clear. We know that early treatment has health benefits for HIV-positive people, and we now know that treatment also provides clear benefit for prevention,” said Kenneth H. Mayer, M.D. of Fenway Health. “As we work to scale up HIV treatment programs, we must also scale up and sustain research that builds on important proof of concept for biomedical prevention options, including pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, microbicides and vaccines to prevent HIV. Widespread treatment access coupled with new prevention options will be essential as we move to end this epidemic.”

The declaration grew out of a think tank on optimizing the potential of ARV-based prevention convened by AVAC with support from the John M. Lloyd Foundation. The meeting brought together 25 HIV experts to discuss the way forward capitalizing on mounting evidence of the broad benefit of widespread access to antiretroviral treatment.

The full text of the declaration, along with a list of signers, is available at www.avac.org/endtheepidemic, where additional individuals and organizations can also sign on.

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About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Why are Indian kids starving?

I thought you and your readers would be very interested in this new essay at Boston Review. From the pages of the May / June issue, Siddhartha Deb reports on growing disparity in the shadow of the so-called "Indian Miracle." Deb writes, "43 percent of children under the age of five are malnourished."

In sub-Saharan Africa, the figure is 28 percent; it’s 7 percent in China, to which India is so often compared. The Indian government’s own data show that 800 million Indians live on about twenty rupees (about $0.50) a day. Half of those are farmers who produce food that they, for the most part, cannot afford to eat thanks to the demands of speculators and affluent urban consumers. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), wheat prices reached a record high in February, and the cost of rice—which accounts for 30 percent of the typical Indian diet—hovers at around 22 rupees per kilogram even in Patna and Chennai, capitals of major rice-producing states. That’s about twice the average cost from 2000 until the middle of 2007, when prices began to rise sharply. The average Indian consumes 73 kilograms of rice per year, which means that farmers, assuming they eat at least as much rice as their non-farming countrymen, are now spending some 20 percent of their income on rice alone.

Read the rest: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.3/siddhartha_deb_india_food_crisis.php

I hope that you'll share this disturbing piece of investigative journalism with your readers. The dilemma of rising food prices in economically booming India is rapidly transforming into an humanitarian crisis.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.