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American Morning

Queen Rania of Jordan, Jacques Francois Martin of Vaccine Fund Discuss World Health

Aired February 04, 2002 - 08:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The focus of the annual World Economic Forum, winding down this morning in New York City, has changed dramatically as a result of September 11. Outside, thousands of protesters were vocal, but relatively subdued with only a few dozen arrests over the weekend.

An inside talk turned to empowering common citizens and ethical globalization, whatever that means. Queen Rania of Jordan attended the conference and spoke with CNN's Willow Bay.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLOW BAY, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us are Queen Rania of Jordan and Jacques Francois Martin of the Vaccine Fund -- thank you both for joining us.

I know you are here participating in the World Economic Forum. And, Queen Rania, you have brought along a message, haven't you?

QUEEN RANIA, JORDAN: Well, you know, I think first of all it's a great thing that the Economic Forum is taking place here in New York City. I think it's a symbol of confidence in the city and its safety. The World Economic Forum is a large gathering of people from different parts of the world discussing different issues. And today, we are seeing that there is a special mood in the world, a sense of global morale consciousness. And that has been the general mood directing the conference this year.

I think it's very healthy and very constructive and people looking at globalization from the political and humanitarian dimensions, and I think that's a wonderful thing.

BAY: In this world post-September 11, we are struggling to better understand terrorism, and you really believe that one of the key roots of terrorism is poverty, don't you?

RANIA: I believe that there are many different reasons why terrorism arises. The main prerequisite, I believe, is a feeling of rage in people, people being angry. And there are many reasons why people could be angry. Poverty is one of them. Lack of opportunities, lack of freedom, lack of human dignity, all these are different aspects that could lead to this feeling of anger. And then people who have a political agenda can make use of this anger in people and really use it to promote their own causes and their own political agendas in this case for example.

BAY: You are working close now with the Vaccine Fund. Why is this issue of global vaccination so important to you?

RANIA: You know, as a mother, I was really heartbroken to realize that every year three million children die from preventable diseases. Diseases that could be prevented through vaccination. And that really gives us a moral imperative to really try to work hard to make sure that this doesn't happen.

BAY: Jacques Francois, here in the United States, we take the notion of vaccines for our children completely for granted. It is a normal matter of course here. That's clearly not the case worldwide. But where is the need greatest?

JACQUES FRANCOIS MARTIN, THE VACCINE FUND: The needs are greatest in the poor countries very clearly. You know, there is a clear relationship between the rate of humanization and the poverty. The Vaccine Fund is specifically working on the 71 poorest countries in the world, because there 50 percent only of the children are immunized.

BAY: And you have just come back from Cambodia, as I understand. Tell me a bit about that trip.

MARTIN: Well, you know, Cambodia underwent so many problems in the last year, and it was the first country, where we had started immunizations with the help of the Vaccine Fund.

The essence of immunization work is being done, in fact, in remote areas, as well. Nobody sees the nurses and the aid workers. You know, it's not spectacular. Therefore, these people need to feel that they are supported directly and indirectly that just we think of them, you know, at every time. And that is what has happened there, and I believe they were impressed.

BAY: And your mission with the Vaccine Fund is really two-fold. One is obviously to raise the financial resources that you need. But the other is absolutely a grassroots, get into the communities and help them vaccinate locally.

MARTIN: We are leveraging existing resources. We put them together and make sure that they are all working in the same direction.

RANIA: Absolutely. And I think that that Vaccine Fund is really an example of how non-governmental organizations and civil society should operate in the 21st century. We have a handful of people here that have incredible outreach by, as he said, leveraging existing resources, going into countries, where there is already infrastructure and partnering with those existing entities to try to get to the people on the ground. And this is really an incredible, creative and flexible way of working, and that way we can actually reduce our overhead expenses and make sure that a maximum percentage of the funding that we get actually reaches the people on the ground and really makes a difference. BAY: Queen Rania, Jacques Francois Martin, thank you very much for joining us, and we wish you the best of luck with the Vaccine Fund.

RANIA: Thank you. It was a pleasure.

MARTIN: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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