On Sunday, 29 October, over 500 young leaders and other invited guests gathered at UN General Assembly Hall to attend a Gala Concert "YOUTH UNITED AGAINST MALARIA." The concert was held on the occasion of the United Nations Global Youth Leadership Summit, 29-31 October 2006, which brought together young community leaders from around the world to discuss strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Celebrated artists Gordon Chambers, the young star Karina Pasian, JY Park, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Angelique Kidjo and Khaled created an energetic foundation for the Summit as they inspired young leaders to join the global fight against malaria. Malaria is a preventable and curable disease that kills over 1 million people each year, mostly young children and pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The concert demonstrated the tremendous power of music and culture to bring people together, convey vital information and inspire people to take action. As the delegate from Cape Verde, Fredson Gomes, aptly said, "On this day, not one person needed a UN translator because we all spoke the same language, the language of music."
The concert was the result of a collaboration between the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the World Culture Open and the United Nations New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace.
Special thanks to all the artists and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
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