You can help babies in need- with every specially marked pack of Pampers you purchase Pampers will donate the cost of one vaccine to help UNICEF protect a woman and her newborns against tetanus. Selma Hayek serves as the spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership in the U.S. and Canada to help raise awareness of this program.

and visit http://www.pampers.com/en_US/unicef_homepage.do for more information.

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It’s May 16th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action…

Nicole Richie and husband Joel Madden made this video supporting the UNICEF campaign to raise funds for 8 million children affected by the Myanmar cyclone.

by getting involved at http://www.unicef.org.

Related links:

Cyclone in Myanmar: Top Ten Ways To Help

UNICEF

NY Times: Myanmar Articles

Doctors Without Borders has a great list of the top 10 most underreported humanitarian stories of 2007. The list includes Displaced Fleeing War in Somalia Face Humanitarian Crisis, Political and Economic Turmoil Sparks Health-Care Crisis in Zimbabwe, and Humanitarian Aid Restricted in Myanmar. Read the full report at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

Sometimes it feels easier to ignore the many issues hurting the world because acknowledging them is depressing and frustrating. However there is hope and ways to help. For example you can by donating to UNCIEF at http://www.unicefusa.org/. UNICEF is one of the few humanitarian organizations that has a permanent presence in Myanmar and emergency assistance is already underway. Today, UNICEF has deployed five teams to the worst affected regions of Myanmar to get an accurate assessment of survivors’ immediate needs.

The devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar on Saturday May 3rd has left over 22,000 people dead and over 40,000 missing. Here are 10 places you can donate to support the disaster relief:

1) American Red Cross- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has also released an initial $189,000 and shipped shelter kits, made up of tarps, ropes and hammers, to support the relief effort in Myanmar. Additionally, the American Red Cross is prepared to respond with financial aid, estimated at $100,000, to aid cyclone survivors.

2) Oxfam International - Oxfam has committed more than $725,000 in aid to the Myanmar delta region.

3) Doctors Without Borders - DWB teams are bringing immediate assistance to Myanmar while additional staff and relief materials are ready to be sent.

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Gwyneth Paltrow has teamed up with Unicef to make a new short film that dramatizes a new poem from Simon Armitage. Paltrow narrates the film that deals with HIV and a mother and daughter’s experience with it.

The film is a part of Unicef’s Born Free From HIV Campaign. They want to inform people that “almost every minute of every day, a baby is born with HIV, passed on by their mother during pregnancy, labour or delivery. This is because only one in five mothers with HIV receive the right medicine and care to prevent passing on the virus to their babies. Without treatment, most of these children will not live to see their second birthday.”

to watch the video

to sign a petition that will be sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, asking him to secure funding to help babies be born free of HIV when he attends the G8 Finance Ministers’ meeting in 2008.

to learn more about the gift campaign.

Going To School (GTS) is a creative non-profit trust that creates media to inspire children to attend school, and to make education relevant to their lives. Their Girl Stars endeavor is a multi-media project that creates icons out of women and girls who stay in school and complete their education. Girl Stars videos have reached thousands of children around the world, particularly in India where the primary education of girls is met with many challenges. According to a UNICEF report:

The proportion of girls who are able to attend school in India continues to remain low in comparison to that of boys their age. Approximately 70% of girls between the age of 6 and 10 attend primary school in India as compared to 76% of boys in the same age group. The situation is worse at the upper primary level where only 40% of girls attend school. The main factors influencing this disparity include poverty and the continuing hold of social and cultural beliefs that discriminate against girls.

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Our second installation of the TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is here give you the very best of Katie, Nicole, Giulia, Gina and Kerry! More blogs means more to love this Valentine’s Day week, and more social action means a healthier and happier world for everyone. Check out our most popular posts of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

5 Ways to Take Action and Get Action On Valentine’s Day

Top 10 Guilt-Free Valentine’s Day Jewelry Gifts: Show Your Valentine You Have a Heart

* * *
Nicole:

Kiva: Microlending to Change Lives

Top 10 New Releases to Inspire Social Change

* * *
Giulia:

Alicia Keys Uses Grammys to Help Keep a Child Alive

V-Day Celebrates Its 10 Year Anniversary!

* * *
Gina:

Top 10 Movie Characters That Make A Difference

Art As Politics In “The Silence Before Bach”

* * *
Kerry:

Tap Project Gets Donations Flowing For Safe Global Water

Levon Helms’ “Dirt Farmer” Wins Grammy Gold

 

A small New York ad agency is making a big difference in the lives of third world children who lack access to clean drinking water. Droga5’s Tap Project, a pro bono ad campaign, partners with restaurants that donate $1 to Project Tap each time a diner chooses tap water over bottled during the week of March 16th. With World Water Day coming up on March 22nd, the Tap Project is raising awareness of–and money for–the cause of clean water in undeveloped nations.

The first Tap Project, last March, raised about $100,000 through the participation of  300 or so New York restaurants and thousands of patrons; this year, as the New York Times reports, the Tap Project’s going nationwide:

Additional markets scheduled to take part are Boston; Chicago; Cincinnati; Dallas; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; New Orleans; Portland, Ore.; Richmond, Va.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; and several cities in South Carolina.

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Being in love with more than one person at the same time is risky business. Yet these 5 couples have it all: they are able to love more than one person without causing the broken hearts and dishes that often accompany polyamorous relationships. What’s their trick? They love each other AND the planet, human rights, and civil rights, and they take action to make the world a better place together. Because these lovebirds bring so much love to each other and the world, because their heart-felt hard work has won my heart, I’d like to give them a Valiant Valentine Award (VVA).

Today’s Valiant Valentine, which kicks off my 5-part Valentine’s week-long series, goes to a couple who has already received a few awards here and there, though none as prestigious as the VVA. She’s a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador who scored Academy Awards, and awards from Amnesty International and The Center for Constitutional Rights. He’s no small potatoes either, having won his own Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Best actor “Prix” at Cannes.

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