I’m writing this as I sit in the 92Y theater in New York City waiting for singer Craig David to take the stage to talk about his role as UN Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis. I’m at the UN Week Digital Media Lounge, hosted by Mashable and the UN Foundation. This casual forum gives bloggers and social media enthusiasts like me a chance to gain access to the high-level discussions happening at the United Nations headquarters this week.
There is a palpable buzz in the air as bloggers, journalists, representatives from NGOs and other global development/health advocates tweet, text, film and blog while adeptly sipping (read: chugging) their morning joe.
I took the train in this morning from Washington, D.C. As I was on the train, I found out some bad news from my mother in India. My great-grandmother is critically ill and will likely die within the next few hours. You read that correctly. My great-grandmother.
While the news is devastating to myself and my family, my great-grandmother lived a very long, healthy life. I was fortunate to know her well into my 20′s; something very rare and special. As I was digesting the news from my mother, I was reminded how amazing it was that she lived to be 94.
She was never debilitated by the scourage of disease, afflicted with severe poverty or lacked access to clean water. While her access to education was limited, she was still given opportunities that hundreds of millions of people, particularly women and children in India currently do not have.
She was fortunate to have lived to her full potential.
There are so many people around the world that are not that lucky. Over 1 billion people are afflicted with one or more of the seven most common neglected tropical diseases. While most NTDs do not kill their victims immediateley, they disable, debilitate and disfigure them, keeping them from reaching their full potential.
The UN Millennium Development Goals Summit this week reminds us that we need to stay committed to this “To Do List.” There are proven, cost-effective solutions to put an end to some of the world’s most pressing issues like hunger, poverty, and disease.
I am eager to continue listening to the important discussions this week and hope that our world leaders will produce more tangible solutions and action steps to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
If we can achieve them, we can look forward to many more people living longer, healthy lives and maximizing their full potentials.
