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RSSEpiscopal Relief & Development President Speaks at Pneumonia Summit
November 3, 2009
The Global Pneumonia Summit, held in New York City on Monday, officially kicked off the first annual World Pneumonia Day. Episcopal Relief & Development President Rob Radtke was a featured speaker at the gathering, along with Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University; Richard Besser, ABC News Senior Health and Medical Editor; and singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Comprising more than 100 leaders in global health, philanthropy, business, government, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, the Summit centered on strategies to prevent and treat pneumonia. Radtke discussed Episcopal Relief & Development’s work in basic health care and how it is helping reduce child mortality from the disease, the leading cause of death for children under age five worldwide.
Noting that Episcopal Relief & Development was the only faith-based organization represented among the speakers, Radtke urged those concerned with pneumonia and child survival to leverage the reach, credibility and experience of all faith communities. “According to the World Health Organization, between 30% to 70% of health care delivery in Africa is owned or overseen by churches and other faith-based organizations,” he said.
Radtke also emphasized an integrated approach to child survival and urged those in attendance to focus on the full panoply of interventions—including proper nutrition, immunizations and malaria prevention—along with pneumonia treatment.
A webcast of the Global Pneumonia Summit, including Radtke’s presentation, will be available soon at worldpneumoniaday.org/live-webcast/.
Episcopal Relief & Development is a partner in the World Pneumonia Day Coalition, which was established in April 2009 and “seeks to bring focus on pneumonia as a public health issue and to prevent the millions of avoidable deaths from pneumonia that occur each year.” UNICEF has called the disease “the forgotten killer of children,” one that takes two million children each year—or a child every 15 seconds.
To support Episcopal Relief & Development’s work to eradicate preventable diseases worldwide, please make an online donation to the Health Fund at www.er-d.org, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.
Episcopal Relief & Development is the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church of the United States. As an independent 501(c) (3) organization, Episcopal Relief & Development takes its mandate from Jesus’ words found in Matthew 25. Its programs work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Together with the worldwide Church and ecumenical partners, Episcopal Relief & Development strengthens communities today to meet tomorrow’s challenges. We rebuild after disasters and empower people by offering lasting solutions that fight poverty, hunger and disease, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.
