Ted Turner visits Nigeria to showcase what modern vaccines can accomplish

UN Foundation Founder And Chairman Points To Progress In Nigeria Where Cases Of Polio Are Down 98% In 2010

Washington, D.C.

October 25, 2010

Contact:

Megan Rabbitt

As Nigeria celebrates its 50th anniversary, UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner is in Nigeria from October 24-25, 2010 to deliver a message to local leaders that Nigeria must keep up the fight against disease by continuing to leverage the power of modern vaccines. “Working together, I know we can finish the job on polio,” said Turner. The UN Foundation is pointing to recent progress in Nigeria as proof that vaccines are key to eradicating polio and reducing measles worldwide.

Ted Turner, UN Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth, and UN Foundation Board Member Andrew Young are visiting Nigeria to meet with government and community leaders to learn firsthand about the power of public-private partnerships aimed at improving children’s health. Their visit comes at the end of a week-long Board meeting in Africa where the Foundation’s Board members called for increased participation by the private sector and civil society to maximize what the UN and governments can achieve together in tackling global challenges.

“Nigeria has made tremendous progress toward eradicating polio through partnerships with community and government leaders that encourage parents to have their children immunized,” said Ted Turner. “With support from leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto, we are on the verge of achieving the first great humanitarian victory of the 21st century – the complete elimination of a disease that once afflicted millions. By building on the success of partnerships like these, we can eliminate measles and protect children from other vaccine-preventable diseases to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

As a UN MDG advocate, Turner stressed that the country’s recent progress in stopping polio is a testament to Nigeria’s power to accelerate progress in achieving the MDGs. Set in 2000 by the United Nations, the MDGs tackle the biggest problems facing the world today – these include global poverty, women’s and children’s health, hunger, and education.

Last year Nigeria reduced cases of polio by 98 percent with only eight cases confirmed in 2010, as compared to nearly 400 in the fall of 2009. This success is a result of the critical work of the Council of Amirs formed by the Sultan of Sokoto and the commitment of government leaders to assure that everyone eligible for a polio vaccination receives one.

While in Nigeria, Turner, Wirth, and Young will visit with the Sultan of Sokoto on Sunday, October 24. The meeting will include other religious, traditional, and civil society leaders who have played an active role in promoting immunization efforts.

Nigeria will hold a national measles immunization campaign in early 2011. The campaign will also include polio vaccinations and will build on the successful work of the polio eradication efforts to prevent measles deaths. Nigeria’s government leads most African countries by financing over two-thirds of costs for measles campaigns.

Turner and Wirth will also hold meetings in Abuja on Monday, October 25 with Hajiya Amina Az-Zubair, who serves as Senior Special Assistant/Advisor on the MDGs to President Goodluck Jonathan. The UN Foundation leaders will also meet with the Nigerian Council of Governors, which represents the governors of the 36 states that make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Created in 1998 with Ted Turner’s U.S. $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities, the UN Foundation connects people, ideas and resources to help the UN solve global problems. Since 2005, the UN Foundation, Nigerian Government and partners in the Measles Initiative have supported measles campaigns costing more than $100 million and developed public-private partnerships to support UN projects in Nigeria. These efforts are carried out by the Nigerian government, UN Agencies, and leading Nigerian business and nongovernmental organizations.

Background:

Polio, which can cause lifelong paralysis, can be prevented with a vaccine that costs only $.60. In the 1980s, polio paralyzed at least 1,000 children each day all over the world, but today, after international efforts to immunize every child everywhere, five million people are walking who would otherwise be paralyzed and the world is almost polio-free. Since 1998, the United Nations Foundation has been an active participant in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, raising funds and awareness, advancing the policies of national governments and international agencies, and supporting the leadership of UN agencies to help eradicate polio.

Building on its experience with the polio eradication initiative, the UN Foundation became a founding partner in the Measles Initiative, launched in 2001 to reduce measles deaths worldwide. Bringing together the combined resources of the UN Foundation, WHO, UNICEF, the American Red Cross and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Measles Initiative has become one of the most successful global health efforts in recent memory. The Measles Initiative is one the UN Foundation’s largest partnerships and has helped to prevent 4.3 million deaths since 2000.

The members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors represent 11 nationalities.  Members are:  R.E. “Ted” Turner (U.S.A.), Chairman and Founder, United Nations Foundation, Turner Enterprises; Timothy E. Wirth (U.S.A.), President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund and former U.S. Senator; Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah (Jordan), Chairperson of the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and the Jordan River Foundation; Kofi Annan (Ghana), former United Nations Secretary-General; Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway), Director-General Emeritus, World Health Organization and Former Prime Minister of Norway; Igor Ivanov (Russia), Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; N.R. Narayana Murthy (India), Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited; Hisashi Owada (Japan), President of the International Court of Justice; Emma Rothschild (United Kingdom), Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History, Harvard University and Director, Joint Center for History and Economics, Harvard University; Nafis Sadik (Pakistan), Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General; Andrew Young (U.S.A.), Chairman of Good Works International and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Yuan Ming (China), Director, Institute of International Relations at Peking University; Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), Founder of the Grameen Bank

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About the United Nations Foundation
The United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds and implements public/private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and works to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. Through campaigns and partnerships, the organization connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The campaigns reduce child mortality, empower women and girls, create a new energy future, secure peace and human rights, and promote technology innovation to improve health outcomes. These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.