Hey, Canada!
Yes, I'm a proud Canadian. Good reason to be. It's a great country, full of great people. It's a country with soul, a people with a collective conscience. Canadians live well, and know that others should too. There is plenty wrong with our society, but in comparison to all that is right about it, we're doing just fine. No need to let our guards down though, we owe plenty to the world of people around us in other countries and we do try to remember our obligations, not always successfully.But look here...Canada has just received an honour from Helen Keller International, a U.S.-based charity founded in memory of the woman whose personal courage, perseverance and determination to help herself and through her prodigious efforts help others - made her an international symbol of the finest aspirations that people can dedicate themselves to in the face of overwhelming odds.
With financial assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Helen Keller International annually distributes vitamin A capsules to children (throughout thirteen African countries) at risk for blindness as a result of vitamin A deficiency. CIDA has funded the organization in the sum of 95million dollars since 2003 for this specific purpose.
"According to UNICEF, more than 2.1 million lives have been saved because of vitamin A programming. So, it goes without saying we're extremely pleased with the results," said CIDA's Bruce Montador, accepting the International Development Award at a New York reception.Community health workers, collaborating with Hellen Keller International, deliver the vitamin A to children whose diets lack the fruits and vegetables that naturally provide vitamin A. These children are located most often in remote rural or extremely poor urban areas in Africa.
"When we saw that kind of potentiel yield, we decided to fund the distribution of more than two billion capsules of vitamin A," added Mr. Montador.
Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children in the developing world, desite the low cost of distribution; just two cent-doses per year protects a child's life and prevents blindness, making this treatment one of the most cost-effective of interventions in child health.
It's always nice to feel good about one's country. Now, if we could only persuade our government to agree to up the ante on our foreign aid to meet the targets we've promised ourselves...
posted by Pieface @ Friday, December 01, 2006
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