Templates for Letters in Support of the United Nations High Level

Templates for Letters in Support of the

United Nations High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases

As discussed in the recent CCA and UNFPA webinar, it is crucial to ensure that the outcome document from the important United Nations High Level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs), to be held in New York on

September 19-20, 2011, will appropriately emphasize the burden of cervical and breast cancer, especially in

Africa, Asia and Latin America.

We feel that a letter-writing campaign to UN missions in our countries, and to UN Headquarters in New York, could influence the outcome document significantly.

Following are templates of letters you may wish to send, designed for the following recipients:



UN Secretary General



President of the 65 th session of the United Nations General Assembly



UN health and gender agency heads:

WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, World Bank, and UNAIDS





US First Lady Michelle Obama



UN Mission from your country. Country mission email addresses are listed in this directory: www.un.int/protocol/bluebook/bb301.pdf



Representatives of UN health agencies in your country



Heads of delegations to the UN from the European Union and the African Union

Please revise and adapt these templates according to your preference and to send them to other VIPs as appropriate.

Please use official stationary for the letters, if appropriate, to make your point more forcefully.

The outcomes document will be written over the next few months, so if your letters are to have impact, they should be sent by mid- June.

To make your letter more personal and relevant to your country, you may like to add a few sentences on these topics:



Statistics on the burden of breast and cervical cancer in your country.

**

 Activities in your country related to screening or treatment of women’s cancers or HPV vaccination.



The importance of improved breast and cervical cancer control in your country.



See addresses of UN agenda heads in the Annex of this letter.

** For statistics on cervical cancer incidence and mortality by country and region, visit the World Health

Organization Globocan database at http://globocan.iarc.fr

.



Acknowledgement of support among other leaders in your country.



Other information you feel would make your letters more persuasive.

Sending your letters:

 Please don’t forget to remove the red text at the top of each letter before sending.

 It may be more effective to ask your country’s UN mission to personally deliver your letters to the offices of the UN Secretary General and the President of the 65 th session of the UN General Assembly.



Addresses of UN agency heads can be found in the Annex.



We were not able to identify specific email addresses for most of the leaders, but any we have are in the annex.

Finally, please consider sharing a letter with local media to amplify your voice.

Please also share a copy of each letter with us if convenient. That way we will be able to track and document the outreach.

Thank you for participating in this important initiative!

Sincerely,

Scott Wittet

Chair

Cervical Cancer Action coalition swittet@path.org

ANNEX

ADDRESSES OF UN AGENCY HEADS IN NEW YORK AND GENEVA

Mr. Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General of the United Nations

United Nations

405 East 42nd Street

New York, NY 10017-3599

USA

Generic UN email inquiries@un.org

H.E. Mr. Joseph Deiss


Office of the President of the General Assembly United Nations

United Nations


New York, NY 10017-3599

USA

Dr. Margaret Chan

Director General

WHO World Health Organization

Avenue Appia 20

1211 Geneva 27

Switzerland

Generic office email pga65@un.org

chanm@who.int

Generic office email hq@unfpa.org

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin

Executive Director

United Nations Population Fund

605 Third Avenue

New York, New York 10158

USA

Mr. Anthony Lake

Executive Director

UNICEF

3 United Nations Plaza

New York, New York 10017

USA

Mme. Inés Alberdi

Executive Director

United Nations Development Fund for Women

304 East 45th Street, 15th Floor

New York, NY 10017

USA

Mr. Robert B. Zoellick

President

The World Bank

1818 H Street, NW

Washington, DC 20433

USA

Mr. Michel Sidibé

Executive Director

UNAIDS

20, Avenue Appia

CH-1211 Geneva 27

Switzerland

Staff email address jkandel@unicef.org

Staff email address nanette.braun@unwomen.org

Staff email address kschrader@worldbank.org

Generic office email communications@unaids.org

Ambassador Ratsifandrihamanana

Office of the Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United

Nations


3 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza

New York, N.Y. 10017

USA

H.E. Mr. Pedro Serrano, Ambassador

Acting Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United

Nations

222 East 41st Street, 20th Floor


USA

Generic office email

AU-NewYork@africa-unionnyo.org

Generic office email delegation-new-york@ec.europa.eu

TEMPLATE FOR LETTER TO

UN SECRETARY GENERAL

[date]

Mr. Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General of the United Nations

United Nations Secretariat Building


New York, NY 10017-3599

Women’s Cancers and the United Nations High Level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases

Dear Secretary-General:

I am writing to thank you for passage of the A/RES/65/238 modalities resolution for the High Level Meeting on

Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be held in New York on September 19-20, 2011. I also am pleased that the United Nations is highlighting this important topic and that the meeting aims to produce a concise, actionoriented outcomes document to help guide, stimulate and energize new initiatives.

I would like to request your leadership ensuring that women’s cancers—particularly breast and cervical cancer— figure prominently in the outcome document. These two cancers together kill about 734,000 women each year, with nearly 70% of those deaths in less-developed countries.

1 The great tragedy is that both diseases are treatable, and cervical cancer is preventable. Programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America are showing promising results, especially with cervical cancer control, but much more needs to be done. As a start, awareness must be raised about the diseases and about proven prevention and treatment methods. The outcomes document could be a powerful tool for that purpose.

In 2010 the World Economic Forum highlighted NCDs as one of the three most significant risks to global wellbeing.

2 NCDs have become a neglected global epidemic, despite having some cost-effective solutions at hand. In fact, the WHO “Global status report on noncommunicable diseases, 2010” lists cervical cancer screening and treatment as a “best buy” among individual health care interventions (page six of the executive summary). With your leadership, we can save millions of lives and reverse the damaging social and economic effects of these diseases.

Please consider contacting the delegations of member states and UN agencies who are organizing the High Level

Meeting to inform them of our common interest in women’s cancers and available tools to reduce associated deaths. We understand that Jamaica and Luxembourg are shepherding this effort.

I would be pleased to brief your office further regarding this opportunity should you require additional information.

Sincerely,

[signature and title]

1 Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C and Parkin DM. GLOBOCAN 2008, Cancer Incidence and Mortality

Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 10 [Internet]. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2010.

Available from: http://globocan.iarc.fr

2 World Economic Forum Global Risk Network. Global Risks 2010. Geneva: World Economic Forum; 2010.


PRESIDENT OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

[date]

H.E. Mr. Joseph Deiss


Office of the President of the General Assembly United Nations

United Nations, New York, NY, 10017


Dear President Deiss:

I am writing to thank you for passage of the A/RES/65/238 modalities resolution for the High Level Meeting on

Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be held in New York on September 19-20, 2011. I also am pleased that the United Nations is highlighting this important topic and that the meeting aims to produce a concise, actionoriented outcomes document to help guide, stimulate and energize new initiatives.

I would like to request your Office’s support ensuring that women’s cancers—particularly breast and cervical cancer—figure prominently in the outcome document. These two cancers together kill about 734,000 women each year, with nearly 70% of those deaths in less-developed countries.

3 The great tragedy is that both diseases are treatable, and cervical cancer is preventable. Programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America are showing promising results, especially with cervical cancer control, but much more needs to be done. As a start, awareness must be raised about the diseases and about proven prevention and treatment methods.

Please consider contacting your partners in drafting the outcomes document and informing them of our common interest in women’s cancers and available tools to reduce associated deaths.

We also request that civil society representatives are actively engaged and invited to lend their voices to the discussion in the lead-up and during the meeting.




Sincerely,







HEADS OF UN HEALTH AGENCIES (GLOBAL)

[date]

Dr Margaret Chan

Director-General of the World Health Organization

SEE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR ALL AGENCY HEADS IN THE ANNEX


Dear Dr. Chan:

As you know, the General Assembly recently passed the A/RES/65/238 modalities resolution for the High Level

Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be held in New York on September 19-20, 2011. I also am pleased that the United Nations is highlighting this important topic and that the meeting aims to produce a concise, action-oriented outcomes document to help guide, stimulate and energize new initiatives.

I would like to request your agency’s support ensuring that women’s cancers—particularly breast and cervical cancer—figure prominently in the outcome document. These two cancers together kill about 734,000 women each year, with nearly 70% of those deaths in less-developed countries.


I also would like to request that civil society representatives are actively engaged and invited to lend their voices to the discussion in the lead-up and during the meeting.



Please consider contacting delegations of member states, as well as key UN bodies in New York City involved in organizing the meeting and drafting the outcomes document and informing them of our common interest in women’s cancers and available tools to reduce associated deaths. We understand that Jamaica and Luxembourg are shepherding this effort.

Sincerely,







US FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA

[date]

First Lady Michelle Obama

The White House

Washington, D.C. 20500

USA


Dear Mrs. Obama:

As you may be aware, the United Nations General Assembly recently passed the A/RES/65/238 modalities resolution for the High Level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be held in New York on

September 19-20, 2011. I also am pleased that the United Nations is highlighting this important topic and that the meeting aims to produce a concise, action-oriented outcomes document to help guide, stimulate and energize new initiatives.

I would like to request your support for ensuring that women’s cancers—particularly breast and cervical cancer— figure prominently in the outcome document. These two cancers together kill about 734,000 women each year, with nearly 70% of those deaths in less-developed countries.





Please consider contacting the United States delegation to the United Nations, as well as key UN bodies in New

York City involved in organizing the meeting and drafting the outcomes document, and informing them of our common interest in women’s cancers and available tools to reduce associated deaths. We understand that Jamaica and Luxembourg are shepherding this effort.

Sincerely,







UN MISSION FROM YOUR COUNTRY

[date]

[name and address of your UN Ambassador]


Dear [Mr. or Mme.] Ambassador:

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for passing the A/RES/65/238 modalities resolution for the High Level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be held in New York on September 19-20, 2011. I also am pleased that the United Nations is highlighting this important topic and that the meeting aims to produce a concise, actionoriented outcomes document to help guide, stimulate and energize new initiatives.






Please consider contacting other UN missions working on the outcomes document and informing them of our common concerns about the heavy burden of women’s cancers and our interest in tools available to reduce associated deaths. We understand that Jamaica and Luxembourg are shepherding this effort.


Sincerely,




10


World Economic Forum Global Risk Network. Global Risks 2010. Geneva: World Economic Forum; 2010.


HEADS OF UN HEALTH AGENCIES IN YOUR COUNTRY

[date]

[name and address of UN agency head in your capital]


Dear [Mr., Mme. or Dr. ________]:








Please consider contacting the delegations of member states, as well as UN agencies, organizing the meeting to inform them of our common about the heavy burden of women’s cancers and our interest in tools available to reduce associated deaths.


Sincerely,



12





MINISTRY OF HEALTH IN YOUR COUNTRY

[date]

[name and address of Minister of Health in your capital]


Dear [Dr., Mme. or Mr. ________]:

As you may know, the General Assembly recently passed the A/RES/65/238 modalities resolution for the High

Level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be held in New York on September 19-20, 2011. I also am pleased that the United Nations is highlighting this important topic and that the meeting aims to produce a concise, action-oriented outcomes document to help guide, stimulate and energize new initiatives.





There are a number of earlier meetings leading up to the High Level Meeting in September. These meetings will be important venues for negotiating the contents of the outcomes document. The Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyle and Non-communicable Disease Control will be held 28-29 April in Moscow. Please consider attending that meeting so that our voice may be heard on these important issues.


Sincerely,



14




TEMPLATE FOR LETTER TO THE

DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE UN

[date]

H.E. Mr. Pedro Serrano, Ambassador

Acting Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations

222 East 41st Street, 20th Floor



Dear Ambassador Serrano:



I would like to request European Union support for ensuring that women’s cancers—particularly breast and cervical cancer—figure prominently in the outcome document. These two cancers together kill about 734,000 women each year, with nearly 70% of those deaths in less-developed countries.





Please consider contacting the missions of European Union members and informing them of our common interest in the outcome document and the information it includes about the heavy burden of women’s cancers and available tools to reduce associated deaths. We understand that Jamaica and Luxembourg are shepherding this effort.


Sincerely,



16




TEMPLATE FOR LETTER TO THE

DELEGATION OF THE AFRICAN UNION TO THE UN

[date]

Ambassador Ratsifandrihamanana

Office of the Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations


3 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza



Dear Mme. Ambassador:



I would like to request African Union support for ensuring that women’s cancers—particularly breast and cervical cancer—figure prominently in the outcome document. These two cancers together kill about 734,000 women each year, with nearly 70% of those deaths in less-developed countries.





Please consider contacting the delegations of African Union member states and informing them of our common interest in the outcome document and the information it includes about the heavy burden of women’s cancers and available tools to reduce associated deaths.


Sincerely,



18




Templates for Letters in Support of the United Nations High Level

Templates for Letters in Support of the

United Nations High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases

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Templates for Letters in Support of the United Nations High Level