Ending Girl Child Marriage: U.N. International Day Event at UC San Diego

Guest Speaker: Archbishop Desmond Tutu (via webcast), UCSD Profs. Steffanie Strathdee, Anita Raj et al. RSVP to www.calit2.net/egcm Date: October 11th, 2012 Time: 9am-12:30pm Location: Calit2 Auditorium, Atkinson Hall, UC San Diego Host: Prof. Anita Raj, UCSD School of Medicine [registration]

DESCRIPTION/ABSTRACT: This forum features U.N. leaders and Archbishop Desmond Tutu via live webcast from New York, and a discussion with UCSD experts on how to end girl child marriage, which affects the one-in-seven girls worldwide who are married off before age 15. Every day approximately 25,000 girls become child brides. The United Nations has chosen ending girl child marriage as its theme to mark the first International Day of the Girl Child. UC San Diego will participate by having a livestream of the U.N. panel, which will include: Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chair of The Elders, founders of Girls Not Brides Hon. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Bangladesh Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA Dr. Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women Ms. Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF Ms. Salamatou Aghali Issoufa, Youth Activist, Niger Moderator: Ann Curry, National and International Anchor, NBC News UC San Diego professor Steffanie Strathdee, who directs the UCSD Global Health Initiative, will introduce the event, and UCSD Professor of Medicine Anita Raj -- the leading academic authority on girl child marriage as a global public health issue -- will provide remarks and background on the issue. Both will engage with other experts and the audience in a question-and-answer session following the live webcast from New York. The panel of experts from UCSD and local organizations will field questions about girl child marriage and how to get involved in efforts to eliminate it globally. This event is sponsored by the Packard Foundation, and co-sponsored by the UCSD School of Medicine Division of Global Public Health, the Center on Global Justice, the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), and the UC Global Health Institute Womens Health and Empowerment Group. SPEAKER BIO: Prof. Steffanie A. Strathdee, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, Harold Simon Professor and Chief of the Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, UCSD. She also is Director of the UCSD Global Health Initiative and founding Co-Director of its Center for Migration and Health. Strathdee has authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications in the area of HIV and global health. Prof. Anita Raj, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Division of Global Public Health and a Senior Fellow in the Center on Global Justice at UC San Diego. She has published 20-plus papers on girl child marriage as a global public health concern, including work featured in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association focused on global health. Prof. Raj has also contributed to WHO and UNICEF reports on this topic. The U.N. panel will feature Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and member of the Elders Organization, who leads efforts by the organization to eliminate girl child marriage around the world. Also on the panel will be Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director; Michelle Bachelet, U.N. Women Executive Director; and Geeta Rao Gupta, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director. The panel will focus on girl child marriage, its health and development impact, and solutions. MORE INFORMATION: Breakfast will be provided to participants from 8:30am to 9am in the first-floor lobby of Atkinson Hall. No fee, open to the public. Please register at http://www.calit2.net/egcm . *Registration is Required