ShotAtLife

The Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC and Uganda has now passed 1,000 cases. But UNICEF is there on the frontlines, working hard to stop it.

Since the outbreak started, UNICEF has surged additional resources, emergency medical supplies, and expert outbreak response staff to the affected areas – all while ensuring vital humanitarian services continues to be delivered.

Faced with a rapidly spreading virus in a challenging humanitarian setting, this kind of rapid, comprehensive response is critical to ensuring health services continue while we work to contain the outbreak.

Read more about the response: https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/unicef-responds-ebola-outbreak-drc-and-uganda

New outbreaks of two deadly, untreatable diseases mean we must remain vigilant about threats beyond our shores.

How America and the world respond to these outbreaks and learn real lessons from them will be the rea tests of our global health security in 2026 and beyond.

Here’s what you need to know about hantavirus and Ebola, plus four key lessons we're already learning: https://shotatlife.org/2026/05/21/two-outbreaks-four-lessons/

Yesterday, United Nations Foundation, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and UNICEF hosted an event at where global health leaders and civil society discussed how to sustain life-saving health services for mothers and children during humanitarian crises.

One key takeaway: Health services already in place for and can be leveraged to keep communities safe from other deadly diseases as well.

ICMYI: $2b in appropriated global health funds are expiring in September – but there’s a real chance they could go to USAID closeout costs instead.

That’s $2b that the State Department could use to save lives, advance America’s global health goals, and keep Americans safe. It needs to reach the programs where it can make a difference.

Learn more:

$2B in Global Health Funds Are Expiring. State Can Use Them to Save Lives. | Shot@Life Last week, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) notified Congress that it would be using more unobligated funds from previous Fiscal Years to close out canceled USAID contracts as part of the shuttering of the organization – including some $2 billion originally appropriated for global health....

The United Nations Foundation community is mourning the loss and honoring the life of our Founder and Chairman Ted Turner.

In 1997, Ted pledged $1 billion to create the UN Foundation, the largest individual philanthropic gift in history at the time.

We are honored to carry forward his torch.

Read the statement from our President & CEO and Board Co-Chair: bit.ly/42fObvl

As draws to a close, we’re highlighting one of the real immunization success stories of recent decades: the incredible progress made in the fight against .

From 1,000 children paralyzed every day in the 1980s, we’ve seen a 99.9% decline in cases and stand on the brink of ending this disease forever.

But we can’t stop here. We need to reaffirm our commitment to going the distance, make sure life-saving vaccines reach the last mile, and finally make polio a disease of the past.

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a foreign affairs spending bill for FY27. The bill includes strong funding for key global health priorities, including global immunization – but the process is just getting started.

For more on what's in the bill and what's next, check out our latest blog: https://bit.ly/fy27-house-explained

It’s World Immunization Week!

Vaccines are one of the most remarkable – and impactful – medical inventions of all time. In the last 50 years, global immunization programs have saved more than 154 million lives.

That’s one life saved every 10 seconds, for five decades.

Today, we’re at the brink of ending polio, have protected countless millions from measles, and can turn the tide against malaria – all thanks to the power of immunization.

But it’s up to us to expand access to vaccines so that every child, no matter where they live, is protected.

Fighting polio isn’t just about preventing and treating cases. It’s about catching outbreaks before they can spread.

But did you know the early warning systems developed for polio also help catch outbreaks of novel and emerging disease threats?

Check out this episode of Global Dispatches to learn how: https://www.globaldispatches.org/how-existing-disease-surveillance