Shot At Life: Because Kids Still Die from Preventable Diseases



2013 Shot at Life Advocates storming the Capitol (United Nations Foundation).

This week I had the privilege to attend the second annual Shot at Life Summit hosted by the United Nations Foundation in D.C. As some of you know, Shot at Life, a campaign devoted to improving children's access to vaccines in the developing world, warms my skeptical, smart-a** heart. This year I returned to the Summit as a mentor. It's not often this carpooling, valentine-supervising part-time laundress gets the chance to sneak out of town for a good cause let alone a good time. My fellow global health do-gooders did not disappoint. I met with many of the 100 new Shot at Life advocates, a remarkable and diverse group of mothers, fathers, college students, doctors, nurses, photographers, home schoolers, teachers and one cartographer.

The new champs included public health professional and friend of Momma Data, Andrea Riley, that tall, funny friend I did always want from Nebraska (her words, not mine!). Some advocates came because they saw suffering and death first-hand. All came because too many kids around the world die from diseases and here's the kicker, diseases we can prevent for mere dollars. We're building a grass-roots movement to kick butt against pneumonia, measles, polio and rotavirus, diseases that kill a kid every 20 seconds. Oh yes, it's an official movement. There's a t-shirt and a messenger bag.         

Apparently KJ Dell'Antonio, the Motherlode mom-in-chief, had to speak out about the kids dying from diarrhea.  Catch up on the details in her New York Times article -  Business Travel for a Cause: Admirable. Still Painful. Not sure if "business travel" refers to her travels or that of the Shot at Life champions.  In either case I consider giving kids a shot at life my business. FYI, I'm the one in the green shirt.

If you can't stomach another child dying from diarrhea, sign up at Shot at Life, leave your email, buy a shirt, bug your elected officials, read one of the stories from Uganda in the 28 Days of Impact or just join the conversation here.