Speakers Include Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Lee Jong-wook, Ted Turner, Ann Veneman, Paul Farmer, Madeleine Albright, Paul Wolfowitz, Agnes Binagwaho, Rick Warren, Julie Gerberding and Bono

TIME Global Health Summit Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Nov. 1-3, 2005, in New York City

New York, NY– TIME magazine will focus America’s attention on global health during the TIME Global Health Summit, November 1-3, 2005, in New York City. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the TIME Summit will convene leaders in medicine, government, business, public policy and the arts to develop actions and solutions to health crises.

TIME is partnering with PBS, as well as ABC News, to reach a broad audience. On Monday, October 31, a TIME special issue on global health will hit newsstands, reaching more than 27 million readers around the world. On Nov. 1-3 from 9-11 pm (check local listings), PBS will premiere Rx for Survival  A Global Health Challenge™, a six-part documentary series narrated by Brad Pitt. The series is co-produced by the WGBH/NOVA Science Unit and Vulcan Productions. Also this fall, ABC News will provide expanded coverage of global health issues. The TIME Summit will be on-the-record and open to credentialed media for news coverage.

"The developed nations of the world can no longer ignore the health crisis faced by millions of people every day," said Jim Kelly, managing editor of TIME magazine. “And the challenges presented by Hurricane Katrina bring home these daunting struggles. With the rapid spread of so many diseases that can be treated—and in many cases prevented—with simple interventions, TIME hopes this summit will inspire American leaders and the general public to commit the necessary resources to stop the needless deaths. This is not an insurmountable task. We have the drugs, the vaccines and the medical knowledge. All we have lacked is the will."

The TIME Global Health Summit Executive Council and Advisory Board, including Bono, Sir Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Ted Turner, have helped to shape the event. The summit will focus on 10 major global health challenges. TIME also will recognize true-life heroes of global health, including men and women working in Africa and Asia.

“The world has never been in a better position to dramatically improve global health,” said Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the major supporter of the TIME Global Health Summit. “We have effective drugs and vaccines, tremendous scientific know-how and growing commitments from the world’s political leaders. I believe that this summit will demonstrate the many ways in which Americans can support the fight for health in the world’s poorest countries.”

10 Challenges of Global Health: The main agenda is built around a series of solutions-oriented debates on the “10 Big Questions of Global Health,” such as “Can Drugs Be Accessible By All?”; “What Must We Learn From The War Against AIDS?”; “How Do We Prepare for the Next Plague?” and “Why Do 10 Million Children Have to Die?” Representatives from many sides of an issue will focus on what works, what does not and how to move forward.

“Our intent is to provide an open forum to produce a real call to action,” said Eileen Naughton, president of TIME. “The TIME Summit will bring together influential leaders from many disciplines - science, business, government and the media - to create a platform that will build optimism and commitments for sustainable improvements in global health.”

Some speakers are may address lessons learned from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the devastating tsunami in Asia and other natural disasters. One session that will address these topics is, “Funding: Who, How Much and What For,” which will question whether the U.S. and other donor nations are spending enough on global health. Acknowledging that the TIME Summit will be held six weeks after the Millennium Development Goals Summit, another session will address the current thinking in Washington on foreign aid. A separate session will examine how faith-based initiatives are changing the global health agenda in Washington.

PBS Broadcast of Rx for Survival: The TIME Global Health Summit will coincide with PBS’s Rx for Survival—A Global Health Challenge™. Anchored by the documentary television series, the Rx for Survival project includes a content-rich global health Web site, online at www.PBS.org/rxforsurvival. Additionally, there are educational resources to promote an awareness of global health for school children, post-secondary students, and in out-of-school settings, and an outreach campaign designed to deepen Americans’ engagement in child survival.

“Global health is one of the most important issues of our time. PBS stations are in a unique position to bring the stories home to Americans and provide community resources to support solutions,” said Pat Mitchell, president of PBS. “In addition to this unprecedented six-part series on global health, PBS has expanded its programming coverage of health issues. Stations will deliver companion outreach campaigns, such as Rx for Child Survival, offering viewers guidelines for how they can directly improve their lives and those of their families, as well as help those who are most vulnerable to the effects of poor public health around the world.”

Location, Programming and Summit Speakers: The TIME Global Health Summit is an invitation-only event at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City, (in the Time Warner Center) and is programmed with the assistance of The Van Heyst Group.

Among the speakers, moderators and participants in the TIME Global Health Summit:

• Madeleine K. Albright, principal, The Albright Group
• Zackie Achmat, chairperson, Treatment Action Campaign
• Carol Bellamy, president, World Learning, SIT
• Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, executive secretary, Rwanda's National Commission to Fight AIDS
• Bono, co-founder, DATA (via satellite)
• Sir Richard Branson, chairman, Virgin Group of Companies
• David Brancaccio, host, PBS NOW (moderator)
• Philip Elmer-DeWitt, sciences editor, TIME magazine (moderator)
• Paul Farmer, member, board of directors, Partners In Health/Program In Infectious Disease and Social Change
• Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president, Institute of Medicine
• Bill Gates, co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Dr. Julie Gerberding, director, Centers for Disease Control
• Dr. David Ho, director and ceo, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
• Dr. Timothy Johnson, Medical Editor, ABC News (moderator)
• Dr. Lee Jong-wook, director-general, World Health Organization
• Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
• Cynthia McFadden, co-anchor, ABC News Primetime , ABC News senior legal correspondent (moderator)
• Bernard Pecoul, executive director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
• Deborah Roberts, correspondent, ABC News 20/20 (moderator)
• R.E. “Ted” Turner, chairman, United Nations Foundation
• Ann Veneman, executive director, UNICEF
• Rick Warren, author, A Purpose Driven Life
• Timothy E. Wirth, president, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund
• Paul D. Wolfowitz, president, World Bank

Coverage by ABC News, TIME and PBS: ABC News, media partner for the TIME Summit, is planning related special reports on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline, ABC News Now, ABCNEWS.com, and ABC News Radio.

"We live in a global village where the health of one person can affect the health of all people," said ABC News President David Westin. "This summit is an important step toward putting global health on the world agenda."

Daily reports will be filed from the summit on TIME.com, which will webcast many of the sessions. The webcast will be provided by http://www.kaisernetwork.org/, a free health policy news and information service provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation. TIME For Kids magazine, which reaches 4.5 million students in grades K-6, will devote the week to covering global health.

In addition, the PBS award-winning newsmagazine NOW, hosted by David Brancaccio, will devote 90 minutes to the topic in a two-part broadcast airing Friday, November 4 at 8:30 p.m. (check local listings). Part one is an in-depth interview with former President Jimmy Carter on his work on health issues in Africa, and part two is a one-hour documentary on U.S. HIV/AIDS policy from its beginning in the early 1980s through President Bush's historic plan, announced in 2003, to spend $15 billion treating people with HIV/AIDS around the world.

Alicia Keys to Star in Benefit Concert: Alicia Keys to Host Benefit Concert - On Thursday, Nov. 3, the final night of the summit, nine-time Grammy winner, Alicia Keys will once again host the annual fundraiser for Keep A Child Alive (KCA). Presented by TIME magazine, the “Black Ball” will raise funds for the organization. Keep A Child Alive KCA is an urgent response to the AIDS pandemic ravaging Africa. KCA is dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment to children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and the developing world by directly engaging the global public. “I love the work that we are doing at Keep A Child Alive. I see the significant change we are making in the AIDS struggle,” said Alicia Keys, KCA global ambassador. “We desperately need more people on treatment throughout the Continent. I feel strongly about this issue, feel it in my heart, my soul and my music”.

Performers at The Black Ball include Common, John Mayer, Angelique Kidjo, Ron Isley and the Agape Children’s Choir from Durban, South Africa. There will be some surprise guests. To purchase tickets for this event at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center at the Time Warner Center (Broadway at 60th Street, New York City), contact Kimberly Knox at 718-965-1111 or kimberly@keepachildalive.org. For more information, go to www.keepachildalive.org.

Additional Support for the TIME Summit: The TIME Summit is made possible through major support by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Additional support has been provided by The Coca-Cola Company, the United Nations Foundation, ExxonMobil, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and the American Red Cross.

“Water scarcity directly affects global health,” said Jeff Seabright, vice president, Environment & Water Resources at The Coca-Cola Company. “People who don’t have access to safe drinking water are vulnerable to disease and food scarcity. We hope this TIME Summit will focus attention on the global need to help communities secure clean drinking water.” Seabright will be a featured speaker at the TIME Summit, discussing The Coca-Cola Company’s efforts to increase water efficiency and partner with others on community water projects around the world.

“By bringing together world leaders and chief health experts, we hope to sound a red-alert on the escalating global health crisis,” said United Nations Foundation Chairman Ted Turner. “Millions of men, women and children die each year from preventable diseases – diseases eradicated long ago in the United States. We hope this forum will serve as a wakeup call to all nations and their leaders that we must take immediate action to stem the tide of this needless misery and death. We applaud TIME for educating its readers and shining a spotlight on this vital global issue.”

"We are pleased to join other sponsors in this TIME Summit who are committed to work to reduce the impact of diseases that devastate the developing world. Africa, for instance, is a significant and growing contributor to the world's energy economy, but diseases like malaria continue to ravage the continent. With more effort focused on vaccine research, as well as treatment and prevention, we can hope to turn the tide on diseases like malaria, which is preventable, treatable and curable," said Rex Tillerson, president, Exxon Mobil Corporation.

“The public and private sectors must work together to address critical global healthcare issues,” said Edward J. Ludwig, Chairman, president and chief executive officer of BD. “We’re honored to join the American Red Cross and other sponsors of the TIME Summit as we continue our efforts to impact diseases, such as measles, that are preventable with vaccinations.”

"By putting global health issues in the forefront, TIME is making a commitment to people around the world who need compassion. The American Red Cross and its Measles Initiative partners are reaching every child at risk for measles in Africa, especially those in the most remote locations. BD has been a tremendous supporter of the Measles Initiative, ensuring that children are vaccinated safely in an effective manner. The Initiative has led the way in reducing measles deaths by half over the past five years, and with the Global Health Summit, we hope to continue our mission with others who help the world's most vulnerable," said Marsha J. Evans, president and ceo, American Red Cross.

Americans Identify Global Health as the Top Priority for International Aid: A 2004 national survey* commissioned on behalf of PBS’s Rx for Survival by the WGBH/NOVA Science Unit and Vulcan Productions found that Americans identified improving global health as the top priority for international aid (37%), more so than improving economic conditions (31%), helping developing countries become democracies (17%) or helping protect the environment (9%). Nearly two-thirds (65%) said the world’s health problems were indeed solvable and more than half of Americans said supporting vaccination programs (57%), educating youth about AIDS (56%), and preventing disease by building water and sewage systems (53%) should be top priorities for American organizations that aim to improve global health. Yet Americans’ awareness of worldwide health problems varied significantly. While 78% correctly identified HIV/AIDS as a global health problem, only 16% identified children dying from diarrhea and nine percent from malaria when, in fact, according to the World Health Organization, diarrheal illnesses kill 1.3 million children yearly worldwide and malaria more than one million people – mostly children.

*Survey conducted for PBS by Belden, Russonello & Stewart of 2,001 adults in January, 2004.