As part of the Living Proof Project, the Gates Foundation produced this amazing video which you may remember seeing during Bill and Melinda Gates’ “Impatient Optimists” presentation.

The video follows Ethiopia native Liya Kebede, the World Health Organization’s Global Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health.

The Living Proof Project recently posted a new video, this one set in Malawi. It explores something called The Kangaroo Mother Care program, which “teaches mothers how to increase the body temperatures of their newborns by wrapping the babies to their bare chests.” The skin-to-skin contact helps reduce hypothermia, among other benefits.

It’s a pretty remarkable video. Check it out:

Last week I posted on the Living Proof Project’s photo gallery detailing efforts to protect children against rotavirus in Nicaragua. This photo gallery, I think, serves as an interesting companion piece. It tracks the rotavirus vaccine’s journey from a manufacturing plant in Lansdale, Pennsylvania to a clinic in Pantasma, Nicaragua.

It’s an excellent visualization of an oftentimes complicated process. During its journey, the vaccine travels by plane, pickup truck, and horseback before reaching its final destination.

You can see the full gallery by clicking the image below:

If you watched Bill and Melinda Gates’ “Impatient Optimists” presentation, you probably remember this discussion about rotavirus, and the deadly impact it can have on children:

The Living Proof Project also has this great corresponding photo gallery documenting clinics in Managua and Pantasma, Nicaragua where great progress is being made in the administering of rotavirus vaccines.

You can check out the full gallery by clicking the image below:

As part of the Living Proof Project, which we’ve covered extensively here on the ONE Blog, the Gates Foundation has posted this photo gallery following women at the Osu Maternity Home in Accra, Ghana. It’s part of a larger discussion about the benefits and techniques of breastfeeding, which were also examined in this infographic.

Anyone who tuned in for Bill and Melinda Gates’ “Impatient Optimists” presentation on Tuesday got to see a very special performance courtesy of Vocal Motion 6, an a cappella group from Namibia who use their talent to educate young Namibians about HIV prevention.

Music is a particularly powerful way to reach a wide audience and hold peoples’ attention, so it’s great to see Vocal Motion 6 utilizing their talents– which are immense, as I can attest to– in this way.

The Living Proof Project chronicles their “Living Positive Tour” in this photo gallery. Click the image below to see for yourself:

Coming off their Living Proof Presentation last night in DC, Bill and Melinda Gates were featured on NPR this morning to go a little more in depth about US investment in global health. It’s a nice follow-up piece to last night’s event.

You can check out the audio below, and the story here.

I just returned from Sidney Harman Hall here in Washington, DC where Bill and Melinda Gates presented the Living Proof Project.

A lot of you watched the speech live here on the ONE Blog so I won’t rehash the event detail for detail, but what I saw tonight was probably one of the most compelling and crystal clear cases for US investments in global health I’ve ever witnessed. Smallpox eradicated, polio reduced 99 percent, measles reduced 93 percent, terrific progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria– it was truly inspiring to see these facts laid out by two people who are playing such a pivotal role in encouraging the US government to do more.

But with so much to be optimistic about, Melinda Gates probably put it best when she said “the world is getting better. But it’s not getting better for everyone, and it’s not getting better fast enough.”

The presentation was interspersed with some fantastic footage chronicling US global health investments on the ground. It’s no secret that video is often the best medium to really capture some of these powerful stories, and the crowd’s reaction definitely demonstrated that.

I just have to share this one that documents the results of Rotavirus vaccine in a clinic in Nicaragua. Even though I’d seen it before, I still find it really striking.

The Gates cited several specific examples of programs that are making great strides in global health– from the Global Fund and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, to the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the promise of the Millennium Development Goals.

It was fitting that the Gates chose to make this presentation in DC given the importance they placed in the US Government’s ability to make an enormous impact. As Bill Gates put it, though foundations like the Gates Foundation can act as catalysts, governments in rich countries “have the money, the expertise, and the leadership to deliver the interventions that will save millions of lives.”

There’s a lot more I could add, but I’ll choose instead to end it the same way the Gates did tonight– by pointing you to www.livingproofproject.org so you can see for yourself what I saw tonight and spread the word in your community about all the great work that’s being done thanks to US investments in global health– and how much is still left to do.

You can watch the presentation in its entirety in the below blog post.

10PM EST UPDATE: Recording in full below.

Very soon, Bill and Melinda Gates will address the world from Harman Hall in Washington, DC to discuss the millions of lives that have been saved, improved and empowered because of the investments in global health.

The presentation is scheduled to begin at approximately 7 PM EST, and you can watch the live webcast here. Share your reactions to and impressions of the speech in the comments thread below!

Remember to share this page with your friends and family here:

This morning we were honored to publish a guest blog post from Melinda Gates who, along with her husband Bill Gates, will be speaking in Washington, DC tomorrow night about the Living Proof Project.

If you don’t live in DC, no worries! We’ll be hosting a live webcast of the presentation here on ONE.org. Be sure to RSVP here, and invite your friends as well. The presentation will begin at approximately 7:00 PM EST and will highlight the millions of lives have been saved, improved and empowered because of the investments in global health.

See you then!