Everyone here at ONE is watching and deeply concerned about impact of rising food prices on the poorest people around the globe - people who already spend more than half of their income on food. We just put up a new page, at ONE.org/worldfoodcrisis to highlight what is happening, make some statements and to keep track of the latest news.

For those who haven’t been following - Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization announced on Wednesday that the cost of the most basic food staples - rice, wheat and corn - have risen 45% in just the last 9 months. The cost of these staples have now increased 80% since 2005.

From the page:

“To address the current crisis and prevent long-term damage to development progress, the international community needs to address the problem of rising food prices and renew global efforts to combat hunger, malnutrition and agricultural development. In the short-term, quick action should be taken to increase emergency aid to food-importing developing nations and provide the $500 million needed by the World Food Program to meet immediate food needs…In the longer term, the donor community must work with developing nations to develop a comprehensive response to combating hunger and promoting broad-based agricultural development.”

Compassion has flooded the hallways of Libertyville High School in Illinois. I and my fellow students are taking action for the fight against disease and poverty and today, on March 19, our school will become the first official “ONE High School” at the same time Libertyville becomes an official “ONE City.” Next month, we’re organizing a massive community benefit concert that will take place on April 18, 2008 at the high school’s field house.

Just like the roots of the ONE Campaign, this started as just a few students’ idea and has grown into a movement. What inspires me the most is how quick more students are to join. Our group continues to grow and we’ve already signed up more than 580 new members in just two days of tabling. Between our school and town, the Libertyville community is truly taking on to the idea that we all can come together as ONE community to change the world.

Tuesday’s New York Times prominently featured an article describing the debate in the public health community about what are appropriate goals for the fight against malaria. Goals for fighting malaria vary between improving access to control and prevention measures and full eradication of the disease. Full eradication of the disease would mean that no person has the disease, but also that it exists nowhere, except as the New York Times notes, in a laboratory. This was last accomplished with smallpox when the last naturally occurring case of smallpox was recorded in 1977 in Somalia. Smallpox was certified eradicated in 1980.

The most recent round of discussions were sparked late last year when Bill and Melinda Gates called for a push towards eradication at a conference they held in Seattle. Despite the excitement created for such an initiative, the announcement enlivened debate among the scientific community about whether eradication is a realistic goal to set for the community and the potential disappointment of setting the goal and not reaching it. Smallpox had a unique set of credentials that made it a candidate for eradication, including that it could only be carried by humans rather than be primarily carried by mosquitoes in the case of malaria.

The past several years have seen a rapid increase in funding for fighting malaria. Spending from the United States, the Global Fund and World Bank on malaria from 2001 to 2003 was only $348 million. From 2004 to 2006, this number rose to just over $1 billion. The current version of the PEPFAR bill just recently agreed to in the House called for $5 billion in spending on malaria over the next 5 years from the United States alone. This would fund the United States’ proportionate share of the global estimates to achieve universal access to control and prevention for those living in endemic countries. Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama have all committed to significantly ramp up the United States’ spending on malaria if elected president.

Though the debate about eradication versus control is one that is largely restricted to academic settings and concerns about setting realistic expectations, it is one that is likely to increasingly play out in the public discourse as the United States moves to spend more on fighting this disease.

Yesterday, the House passed the FY08 omnibus bill that included significant increases in funding for extreme poverty and global disease programs.

If passed by the Senate later today, FYO8 spending would include over 7 billion on global health programs, which will literally make the difference between life and death for millions of people.

Some additional highlights from the bill below:

• Basic education: The federal government will provide $694 million for grants to organizations that support basic education programs around the world. An
  estimated 72 million children worldwide lack access to basic education.
• Access to safe drinking water: With $298 million allocated for safe water programs, this legislation will enable high-priority countries to provide
  safe drinking water, build water systems and implement hygiene programs.
• Child and maternal health: The funding would provide $450 million dedicated to improving child and maternal health. Everyday, 27,000 children die from preventable, treatable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and measles. Additional funding for child and maternal health programs will provide effective, affordable preventative measures such as immunizations, antibiotics, clean drinking water and vitamin supplements.

-Virginia Simmons

The ONE Campaign launched the new web site On The Record, which presents the plans of presidential candidates to end global poverty.  The videos are a result of hundreds of thousands of emails, phone calls, and letters sent to politicians demanding they put their plans to end poverty and achieve the MDGs on the record for everyone to see.

A great feature of the site is the ability to compare the action plans of politicians together side by side.  How does Rudy Giuliani's plan to end HIV/AIDS compare with Barak Ombama's? 

You can take part in the ONE Campaign by signing the On the Record Petition.  By getting every candidate to outline their plans to end global poverty, we will be able to hold whatever candidate becomes president in 2008 accountable to their promises.

Today (and maybe tomorrow) the Senate will be voting on amendments to the Farm Bill, which includes subsidies to American farmers both large and small.

The problem with these subsidies is that when big-business farmers receive millions of dollars in subsidies they end up driving down prices of these crops around the world. As a result, small farmers around the world can’t compete. For small farmers in the developing world, this means they stay trapped in poverty, unable to compete because their government can’t afford to underwrite their production.

The Farm Bill only comes up for renewal every 5 years, so if we don’t change it now, we won’t get another shot until 2012. The status quo is a promise of 4 more years of extreme poverty to millions of people, so we are asking our Senators to vote YES on two amendments that put a limit on the cash handouts given to big-agribusiness.

As I’ve written recently here on the ONE blog, the Farm Bill working its way through Congress contains subsidies directed to big business farms that stifle competition from smaller farms. Some members of Congress would like the public to believe that these subsidies are designed to help American farmers. In reality, the vast majority of farmers are hurt by these subsidies. These subsidies allow the biggest 8% of farms to lower prices on their goods, leaving small American farmers – not to mention impoverished farmers in the developing world – struggling to compete. Take some time to read about the Farm Bill and why it needs to be reformed.

As our astute ONE members may already know, the Farm Bill is making its way through Congress. The bill only shows up once every five years, and is in major need of reform.

The agricultural subsidies contained within the bill use taxpayer money to allow large farms to out compete small farmers by driving down prices. Only the largest 8% of farmers receive these subsidies, leaving small farmers the world over unable to compete.

This legislation has a particularly strong impact on poor farmers living in extreme poverty, who rely on farming as their sole source of income. However, its negative effects don’t stop there. The other 92% of American farmers also struggle to compete with large subsidized farms.

The Farm Bill has been around for many years, and to reform such a deeply rooted piece of legislation, we will need to get the attention of Congress, the media, and the American public.

Today, 24-hour concerts will take place on 7 continents around the globe to raise awareness about climate change. A ONE Campaign video clip, about the impact of climate change on Africa, will air at these events.

Below, a note from guest blogger Erin Thornton of DATA:

"Africans will be hit first and worst by the climate crisis and are least able to adapt to climate change due to the challenges of global disease and extreme poverty. Climate change is not a crisis of Africa’s making, yet it is African people, especially the poorest, who will suffer the earliest and the most.

·In some African countries, agricultural productivity could be reduced by 50% by 2020, exacerbating food insecurity and malnutrition on the continent.

·By 2025, around 480 million people in Africa will face water scarcity or stress, with a subsequent increase in water-related conflicts.

ONE was just announced as the winner of this month's MySpace Impact Award! The award recognizes ONE's successful poverty relief advocacy both outside and within the MySpace community and also comes with a $10,000 prize, which will go toward ONE members' continued fight against the global crisis of extreme poverty.

Thanks to all of you who voted! Because of your support, the vote was really never even close--out of the three finalists for the award, ONE received about 75% of the total vote, a testament to ONE's increasingly broad recognition and support.

ONE's MySpace community dwarfs that of almost all other organizations and campaigns with over 110,000 friends. Super-volunteer Danny Castro created the page over two years ago and still maintains it, spending about two hours a day on the page.