Sacramento Joins Local Coalitions Across America on Campaign to Improve Child Health and Survival Worldwide.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Coalitions of local media, health organizations, universities, and faith-based institutions in Sacramento have joined with 30 other communities across the country in an effort to increase awareness of the 11 million children who die each year worldwide (pbs.org/rxforsurvival/campaign).

As part of WGBH/PBS Boston and Vulcan Productions' Rx for Child Survival(TM), a nationwide mobilization campaign created by WGBH/PBS Boston and Vulcan Productions, KVIE Public Television is partnering with UC Davis School of Medicine, Freedom From Hunger, United Nations Sacramento Chapter, and California Department of Health Services to form this unprecedented coalition. Working with the Global Health Council, universities and faith- based groups participating in the coalition include San Diego State University, Council of Churches of California, Jewish Campus Center, Episcopal Community Services, and Interfaith Service Bureau.

The coalitions are working in their communities to increase awareness about global health, encourage donations to child health programs, and advocate for increased government funding for global child health and survival. KVIE is hosting a Rotary Luncheon for community leaders on November 3, featuring Dr. Virginia Hinshaw and focusing on issues surrounding the Avian Flu. Local efforts like these mirror the work of California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Providing a voice for the needs of women and families in the U.S. Senate, they have led the way in supporting increased funding and support for global health and development programs.

"We are building a grassroots movement to educate the public about the preventable deaths of millions of children across the world," states Deryck Spooner, national campaigns manager at the Global Health Council. The Council is also calling on the U.S. government to nearly double funding for global child health in the coming fiscal year.

The Rx for Child Survival campaign was created by WGBH and Vulcan Productions to coincide with their far-reaching multimedia project Rx for Survival -- A Global Health Challenge(TM) anchored by a six-part television series airing November 1-3, 2005 on PBS stations across the country. Major funding for the project was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Merck Company Foundation.

  http://www.pbs.org/rxforsurvival/campaign
  http://www.globalhealth.org/
  http://www.pbs.org/
  http://www.vulcanproductions.com/

  LOCAL COALITION                  GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL
  Arcelia Chavez                   Mariah Richardson-Osgood
  916.641.3649                     202.833.5900 x3213
  [e-mail]                 [e-mail]
                                   http://www.globalhealth.org/

CONTACT: Mariah Richardson-Osgood of Global Health Council, [phone], x3213, or Local coalition: Arcelia Chavez, [phone], [e-mail]

Web site: http://www.globalhealth.org/ http://www.pbs.org/ http://www.vulcanproductions.com/