A Call To Action

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JPF Director Jean-Claude Atusameso with actor Ben Affleck

June 14-15 marked momentous days in the world of international development, as the governments of India, Ethiopia, and the United States, in collaboration with UNICEF, hosted a Child Survival Call to Action conference in Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The conference focused on the goal of ending all preventable child deaths in a generation—optimistically pledged for 2035. The conference featured high-profile speakers like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Hollywood star and founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, Ben Affleck, and the Congolese Minister of Health, Dr. Felix  Mukwampa. Affleck explained how the organization he founded, the Eastern Congo Initiative, has helped to reduce child mortality in the Congo in recent years. He emphasized the importance of Congolese efforts in their own communities when trying to achieve these goals. JPF represented the  conference through founder Jean-Claude Atusameso and Grants/Development Assistant Erik Suspanic.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has the fifth-highest childhood mortality rate in the world. Fifteen percent of the country’s children die before they turn five years old. Many of these children die from preventable diseases like malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia. These are numbers that the world just cannot be comfortable with.


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