The UN Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign announced world-renowned baby photographer Anne Geddes as its Global Advocate today. Geddes, who is known for her iconic photos of babies, will raise awareness to expand access to life-saving vaccines for children in developing countries.
“As someone who works with moms and babies every day, but more importantly as a mother, it was heartbreaking to learn that around the world a child dies every 20 seconds from diseases that can be prevented with an inexpensive vaccine,” said Geddes. “This is an important issue and I’m glad to be joining the Shot@Life campaign to raise awareness about life-saving vaccines; every child deserves a shot at a healthy life.”
Shot@Life educates, connects and empowers Americans to champion vaccines as one of the most cost-effective ways to save children’s lives in developing countries. For only $20, a child can receive lifelong protection against measles, pneumonia, diarrhea and polio. Through her work with Shot@Life, Anne Geddes is fulfilling her commitment to support Every Woman Every Child, an unprecedented global movement spearheaded by the UN Secretary-General to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015. In 2011, Geddes joined the Every Woman Every Child movement by committing to raise public awareness of issues surrounding the dire need to improve the health and welfare of women and children around the world.
“The UN Foundation and Shot@Life are thrilled to welcome Anne Geddes as our Global Advocate in raising awareness for children’s health,” added the UN Foundation’s Vice President of Global Partnerships, Elizabeth Gore. “Ms. Geddes is world-famous for capturing childhood and motherhood—her voice will help reach millions with the message that anyone can help get life-saving vaccines to the children who desperately need them.”
Success is within reach. Through our partners on the Measles Initiative, the UN Foundation has helped vaccinate over one billion children since its inception in 2001, and has reduced deaths globally by 74 percent. The number of new cases of polio has dropped 99 percent and the world is nearly polio-free. Yet there is still more work to be done.
Each year more than 1.5 million children die of vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the World Health Organization. The two most common causes of childhood deaths are pneumonia and diarrhea. These diseases can be prevented by groundbreaking new vaccines, which if distributed widely, have the potential to save the lives of millions more children.
Shot@Life, together with its partners, will support the work of the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI Alliance) to continue to save lives and improve the health of millions of children by providing vaccines to children in developing countries.
For more information on how to get involved and partner with the Shot@Life campaign, go to shotatlife.org or visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/shotatlifecampaign.
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