A Few Concluding Thoughts on Our Trip
Current mood: tired
Category: Travel and Places

All of us here at ONE are about to escape DC's infamous August heat and take a much-needed week of vacation. But before we go, I wanted to share a few concluding thoughts about our visit to Rwanda.

I think our delegation returned from Rwanda inspired by what can be achieved and encouraged by America's role in supporting that country's groundbreaking efforts. We were fortunate to have such a diverse and distinguished group together for such a concentrated period of time - a rare thing these days. The group chemistry was great and we generated a number of valuable discussions.

Here are a few of the important ideas I think our delegation took away from their experience in Rwanda >>

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Music Builds, ONE Rocks
Current mood: excited

Just when you thought the summer concert season was over, we've got some exciting news about an upcoming rockshow that ONE members won't want to miss. In fact, it's a show that's got ONE's name all over it.

The www.musicbuildstour.com ONE Music Builds Tour will be launch later this month, bringing top-selling bands Third Day, Switchfoot, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Jars of Clay to a city near you. The tour will kick off in Detroit on August 21st and wrap-up in Denver on October 12 and include 23 stops along the way.

This isn't just going to be a typical rock concert - ONE's going to be a big part of the show too. Just to name a few of the special things being planned, there will be videos featuring ONE in between sets focusing on three of ONE's most exciting initiatives: ONE Sabbath, the ONE Campus Challenge and ONE Vote '08. We also plan on having two booths that will ride along on the whole tour where concert-goers can sign up and learn more about ONE and our issues.

We see this tour as a big opportunity for ONE members across the country to get together, have some fun, hear some great music, recruit new friends to the effort and add some noise to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.

We're still hammering out other details and ways we can bring as much attention to ONE as possible (can you say limited edition concert t-shirt?) and we'll keep you up-to-date as the tour gets set to kick off in Detroit. For now, be sure to check out the ONE Music Builds Tour site, www.musicbuildstour.com, for more info about the bands and a full list of tour stops.

-Peter Grieser

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Take Action: Add Poverty-Fighting to The Democratic and Republican Party Platforms
Current mood: okay
Category: News and Politics

When the Democratic and Republican parties meet for their conventions at the end of August and early September, they'll be unveiling their parties' new platforms - and we want to make sure that the fight against extreme poverty is an important part of both of those platforms.

That whyOur ONE Vote '08 Co-Chairs, Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle will be meeting with leaders of both parties, and taking a petition from ONE members urging them to make poverty-fighting a priority for both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Click this link and we'll add your name to the petition >>

-Virginia Simmons

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Bono On The Passage of PEPFAR
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Yesterday afternoon, President Bush signed into law new PEPFAR legislation, finalizing months of work by ONE members, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, advocacy organizations, foreign policy experts and medical professionals who worked together to pass historic new funding levels to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.

ONE Campaign Co-founder Bono issued this response >>

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President Bush Signing PEPFAR Today
Current mood: handsome
Category: News and Politics

President Bush is signing PEPFAR at an event at the White House today. This is a bill that will provide $48 Billion in funding in the global fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria for the next 5 years.

ONE's Legislative Director Tom Hart sent in this post right after arriving at the signing event:

I'm sitting in the East Room of the White House, with its 3 massive chandaliers and gold trim, as the president signs a nearly $50b reauthorization of PEPFAR. I feel like this room couldn't be big enough to hold all the support this effort has, especially from ONE members around the country. In DC, we read every day of conflict, partisan bickering and good things stalled. Not today. Republicans, Democrats, Congress, the White House - all found a reason to work together and get this lifesaving initiative done.

As I filed through one of the holding rooms prior to the event, I ran into ONE's old friend, Agnes from Uganda. What a surprise. The President invited her to this ceremony as one of his "special guests". Agnes works for this amazing organization in Uganda named TASO, where PEPFAR has supported many many people on ARVs. Agnes is also HIV+, making the signing of this bill all the more meaningful. In fact, the rest of the pomp and glitz don't really matter…it's really about Agnes and the millions of others this bill has touched and will over the next 5 years.

-Tom Hart

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AIDS Deaths Drop 10%
Current mood: relieved
Category: News and Politics

More newspapers are picking up on the positive new global AIDS numberswe reported yesterday:

In today's LA Times:

The number of AIDS deaths worldwide dropped 10% in 2007 because of increasing access to treatment, as did the number of new infections in children, the United Nations reported Tuesday.

Condom use and prevention efforts increased in many countries and adolescent sexual intercourse declined in some of the most heavily affected regions, the report says.

"In a surprisingly short period of time, there has been a tripling of prevention efforts in some countries," said Dr. Paul De Lay, director of evaluation for UNAIDS…

"The lesson here is that where there is investment, prevention and treatment work," said the Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha of the Hope Institute in Uganda.

-Virginia Simmons

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Touring a Rwandan Clinic
Category: Travel and Places

Another video and post from ONE's Tom Gavin from last week's trip to Rwanda >>

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Bloomberg and Gates tackle Tobacco
Current mood: pleased
Category: News and Politics

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropist Bill Gates announced plans to raise $500 million for a campaign used to kick Big Tobacco – you guessed it – in the butt.

This is particularly significant for developing nations, as they are becoming popular targets for cigarette companies' market demographic.

From the New York Times (Op-ed):

[Bloomberg and Gates'] target is a worthy one: tobacco companies and government-owned tobacco enterprises trying to addict hundreds of millions of new customers in the developing world as sales stagnate or shrivel in the industrialized nations…. The goal [of the campaign] is to reverse the rapid rise of smoking in such countries as China, India and Russia and to head off the epidemic in Africa before it can become entrenched.

Many countries have become addicted to the revenues generated by tobacco taxes or government-owned tobacco companies. They will have to be persuaded that the long-term health damage caused by tobacco far exceeds any short-term gain from tobacco revenues.

Bloomberg and Gates have already committed $375 to begin burning-out the competition – and plan on getting to the neediest countries before Big Tobacco does.

-Betsy Avila

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UNAIDS Report Shows New Gains
Current mood: hopeful
Category: News and Politics

Earlier today, UNAIDS released its 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic. The report, which is published every two years, takes a detailed look at the state of the epidemic and progress towards scaling-up access to treatment, prevention and care around the world.

An important finding in this year's report is that some progress is being made on the prevention side. BBC reports:

"The report says prevention programmes have seen changes in sexual behaviour, and a drop in infection rates in countries such as Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Condom use is also increasing among young people with multiple partners in many countries. This has been seen in seven of the most affected countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia…. The report also reveals that the percentage of HIV-positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral drugs to prevent transmission of the virus to their child rose from 14% in 2005 to 33% in 2007."

The report also found that expanded access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment is helping to reduce deaths. In 2007, the number of AIDS-related deaths dropped to 2 million, down from 2.2 million in 2005.

Stay tuned here for a closer look some of the report's findings.

-Nora Coghlan

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Announcing the ONE Africa Award!
Current mood: excited
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

I am delighted to let you know that we have just launched the ONE Africa Award, an exciting new $100,000 grant for African individuals and organizations, based in Africa, leading the fight against poverty. ONE aims to showcase civil society working on bringing about change amongst the poorest people in Africa. This award for best practice will consider accountable organizations that can demonstrate their commitment and success in assisting Africans to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

African civil society has an extremely important role to play in advancing the development agenda, either through their own action, or as a monitoring body of government implemented programs, ensuring that money goes where it is most needed. We launched the call for applications on July 15th and will continue to receive applications until August 15th. This is our first award, and through this effort, we hope that we can best showcase the individuals and organizations that are doing amazing work, everyday, for African people.

I would be delighted if you could pass on this information on to individuals and organizations that you think would qualify. More information is available here.

-Edith Jibunoh, ONE's Africa Outreach Manager, Abuja, Nigeria

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