9.26.2008 - 02:17pm ET

(CSRwire) NEW YORK and BERKELEY, CA -- Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative's (CGI) New York summit, President Clinton highlighted Hesperian's commitment to empower communities in overcoming the death and disease that a lack of safe drinking water and sanitation cause. The Hesperian commitment brings together funding and support partners the Kind World Foundation, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and others to arm communities with vital water, health and hygiene education.

The commitment enables Berkeley, CA based Hesperian -- a highly respected non-profit publisher and distributor of easy-to-understand materials that enable communities to recognize, treat, and prevent most common health problems -- to increase the number of local editions of its A Community Guide To Environmental Health, expanding distribution of water and sanitation-related materials while also expanding the circulation of the updated guide Where There Is No Doctor.

Hesperian's life-saving publications are available in over 80 languages, and are currently used in over 100 countries. They are helping to train health workers in violence-torn areas of Colombia, create community-based care for refugees in Thailand, support children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, combat toxic poisoning from mining in the Philippines, and answer urgent public health needs worldwide.

"Hesperian works by bringing together community leaders and other partners, and tapping into their local knowledge," noted Sarah Shannon, Hesperian's Executive Director. "That ensures its books are relevant, up-to-date, and community-appropriate. With this commitment, our network can greatly enhance the development and distribution of life-saving information in a powerful, collaborative way that reaches the largest number of people possible."

The commitment reflects CGI's determination to improve global health with existing tools and knowledge. Hesperian is ideally positioned to support this goal through the production and distribution of culturally appropriate, practical and powerful health information via its open copyright publishing model.

Hesperian will work with a partner network to update and test resources in the field, and through a collaborative online portal. It will make seed grants and technical assistance available to over 20 translation partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Resources developed will be distributed by PAHO, Populations Services International (PSI), Global Action, and others. http://www.hesperian.org

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