SATELLIFE Cited By NetAid For Outstanding Use Of Internet Technology To Combat World Poverty

Roye A. Bourke
1999-09-14

Press Release: SATELLIFE, a humanitarian organization using technology to serve healthcare communication and information needs in developing countries, announced today that its work has been highlighted by NetAid as an exemplary use of Internet technology to combat world poverty. SATELLIFE provides an information lifeline to health professionals in developing countries through its global computer-based communications network, HealthNet.

NetAid is a new program dedicated to ending extreme poverty around the world (www.netaid.org). It joins for the first time the influence and impact of world-renowned artists and producers with the power of the Internet and the global reach of television and radio. NetAid concerts on October 9 in New York, London and Geneva are expected to bring global poverty to the attention of millions of viewers and listeners worldwide. NetAid is a joint project of Cisco Systems and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

SATELLIFE was the first non-profit in the world to launch its own satellite in an effort to connect health professionals in developing countries to life-saving information. It has continued to harness the power of information technology to alleviate suffering and improve health in the poorest areas of the world.

Ms. Holly Ladd, SATELLIFE's Executive Director, commented, "We are pleased and honored to be recognized by NetAid for our efforts to end global poverty. We are proud of what we have accomplished through the years and are confident we can do even more with the attention generated by NetAid."

Cisco is the world leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco has committed its resources to develop for the first time a program that will apply the power of the Internet in a global effort to eradicate extreme poverty.

UNDP is the United Nations' front-line agency combating poverty. It facilitates sustainable development and relief agencies in their efforts to help war-torn and disaster damaged countries overcome crises while building lasting solutions to the global challenge of poverty.

The UNDP recognized SATELLIFE's HealthNet (www.healthnet.org)in its 1999 annual report as an example of how low-cost electronic communications can bring critical knowledge to information-poor physicians, nurses, and other health professionals in developing countries.

The NetAid web site launched earlier this month is the world's largest. It has the capacity to handle 125,000 simultaneous streams and one million hits per minute, a tenfold increase over any existing site.

The overlapping concerts will feature a broad array of performers including Bono, David Bowie, and Sean "Puffy" Combs. The concerts will be broadcast by television or radio to more than 60 countries. The entire program will be webcast around the world on two channels, one carrying the concert, the other carrying backstage scenes. NetAid's goal is to generate one billion hits over the Internet, which it hopes will lead to millions of concrete actions including donations of time, expertise, goods or money to organizations such as SATELLIFE.
Dr. Bernard Lown, a renowned cardiologist, is the Founder and Chairman of SATELLIFE. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 as a co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. He had a vision that technology, particularly telecommunications, could promote the exchange of data among health professionals, saving lives and preventing suffering in both developed and developing nations. He saw that lack of information played a major role in most health crises in developing countries.

The product of Lown's vision, SATELLIFE's mission is to improve health by connecting professionals to vital sources of information in the areas of public health, medicine and the environment.

Holly Ladd commented, "We are honored to be recognized as a major contributor to the international war on poverty. The people who have put NetAid together have performed a most valuable service. They have shown how different technologies and different professions can work together for the common good. Doctors in Africa, rock stars in New York, a small non-profit organization in Boston -- we are all doing what we do best to help others."