Favorites from The Art of Saving a Life
By Tara Newton, Communications Associate, BID Initiative
Feb 3, 2015
Posted in General
Last month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a campaign to draw attention to the powerful impact of vaccines: The Art of Saving a Life. The campaign is a collection of stories told through 30 world-renowned artists including writers, photographers, filmmakers, musicians and designers.
I have enjoyed watching this campaign unfold not only because of the beautiful art, but because vaccines are getting their chance in the spotlight to a broader audience. While we work in this world every day, many people are still unaware that a child dies every 20 seconds from a vaccine-preventable disease.
Below are my favorite pieces from The Art of Saving Life campaign and I encourage you to visit the site and share your favorites with us.
Reaching Children Everywhere: Sophia Blackall, Illustrator
No matter which corner of the world children live in, they all deserve access to life-saving vaccines, as seen in Sophia’s illustrations. (see additional illustrations on the site).
Picture: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Sophia Blackwell.
Olikoye: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian Writer
In this piece of literature, the central character is about to become a mother and recounts her parents’ experience protecting their infants from harmful diseases and the stroke of luck that kept her alive as an infant.
The Race for Life: Luc Jacquet, Filmmaker
In this short film, Luc Jacquet conveys the power of vaccines as children come up against various obstacles that could be detrimental to their health if they were not protected by life-saving vaccines.
Let the Children Live: Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Singer
Accompanied by a children’s choir and her son, Yvonne sings about saving the lives of children with vaccines.
Vaccine Heroes: Annie Leibovitz, Photographer
In this portrait, Annie captures people linked to the development of life-saving vaccines including PATH’s Mark LaForce, founding director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project. To think about the lives saved as a result of these people and their relatives!
Photo: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Annie Leibovitz.