MONTHLY DINNER FORUM: A LIGHT ON OBSTETRICS CARE
Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 6:15pm - 9:00pm 

Place: Hamro Aangan Restaurant, 856 San Pablo Ave (near Solano), Albany, CA (Parking in BevMo parking lot)

Cost: $2O gen'l ($1O students and new members). Reservations advised.Reservations: UNAdinner@sbcglobal.net or leave a message at 51O-849-1224.

Speaker: Laura E. Stachel, M.D., M.P.H.

Our UNA-USA East Bay chapter is excited to present a very special Berkeley resident, Dr. Laura Stachel, as our speaker at the Tuesday May 22 Dinner Forum. Dr. Stachel is Associate Director of Emergency Obstetric Research in West Africa for the Bixby Center for Population Health and Sustainability. She is Co-chair of an international working group on Energy and Health for the UN Foundation and Principal investigator for a research study on the Solar Suitcase funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Dr. Stachel and her husband, Hal Aronson, are co-founders of We Care Solar, a rapidly growing non-profit company. The company produces the award-winning product WE CARE Solar Suitcase, an economical, easy-to-use portable power unit that provides health workers with highly efficient medical lighting and power for mobile communication, computers and medical devices. The unit brings lights and power to health facilities in regions without reliable electricity. For example, without a reliable source of electricity, nighttime deliveries are attended in near darkness, cesarean sections are cancelled or conducted by flashlight, and critically ill patients can wait hours or days for life-saving procedures.  

A NOTE FROM THE CHAPTER'S NEW PRESIDENT - JERRY WEBER

I greatly value the opportunity to lead the UNA-USA East Bay Chapter as we continue to build on the solid base developed over the past six years under Herb Berhstock's superb leadership. The underlying target of my goals for the chapter is the expansion of programs for our UNA community in the form of presentations, enhanced material on our website, and the use of Social Media.

The United Nations continues to respond to our changing world. This video - UN 2011 - portrays some of the great variety of UN activities in 2011. There has been a greatly increased UN effort to enhance the lives of women, children and youth. Programs for people faced with discrimination of all kinds have been greatly expanded and the issues given a much enlarged focus. See these videos:

• Bachelet IWD 2011
• Secretary General on Youth

There has been an expanded, ongoing effort to enhance overall operational efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in those agencies responding to natural disasters/emergencies and sustainable economic development. Most humanitarian activity is integrated in OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. See the following videos:

• Pakistan Flood 2011
• Food For Work Haiti
• UN Development Program Overview

It is notable that the United Nations represents the only international mechanism to fully combat climate change and environmental degradation. The video Prepare for Rio+20 provides a solid background of videos and writing to prepare for the RIO+20 Conference (United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development) June 20 through June 22.

Our outreach focus takes place at a time of exciting changes in the Chapter's organizational environment. The UNA-USA East Bay has been associated with the United Nations Foundation through the Better World Campaign for the past two years. This connection provides additional resources to our East Bay Chapter as well as to the other 129 chapters in the United States. The web sites of the organizations provide a wealth of information about the United Nations' role and activity, and the international environment in which it operates. See

• UNA-USA
• Better World campaign

Join our chapter! Go to Join Now

With much appreciation,

Jerry Weber, President

"UNAs are national civil society organizations that provide a link between the citizens of the world and the United Nations by seeking to ensure that the UN is relevant to the lives of the peopoles it exists to serve." World Federation of UNA's.