ONE launches #PassTheMic – Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe

“Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe”

Campaign and Video Aim to Promote Health & Economic Experts and Discuss a Global Response to this Global Pandemic

Celebrities from across the world have joined forces with frontline workers, health, economic and policy experts to launch #PassTheMic, in a video announcing a social media takeover to call for a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative from the ONE Campaign, a global organisation campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, features celebrities such as James McAvoy, Julia Roberts, Millie Bobby Brown and David Oyelowo, and experts such as Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (Chair, Gavi Board and former Finance Minister of Nigeria), David Anderson, (Nurse and Director of Quality at Nightingale Hospital Manchester) and more.

Starting on Thursday, and continuing for several weeks, celebrities will turn over their social media accounts and followers to frontline workers, health, economic and other experts. Experts will share their perspectives – grounded in data, science and facts – and talk about why a global response to this pandemic is so crucial if we want it to be eradicated.

Participants  in the campaign include: Yemi Alade, Connie Britton, Penelope Cruz, Danai Gurira, Hugh Jackman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rita Wilson, Robin Wright and more. Experts from around the world will be featured including Dr. Anthony Fauci (Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases),Aya Chebbi (Youth Envoy for the African Union),  Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Former President of Liberia), Vera Songwe (Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa), Craig Spencer (Director of Global Health in Emergency Medicine, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center). The first celebrity to ‘pass the mic’ will be Julia Roberts, who will speak with Dr Fauci on Thursday 21st of May.  The current list of the celebrities and experts participating is provided below.

“Beating the virus means listening to the experts and following the science, data and facts to get ahead of it. This impressive group of talent and experts from around the world will put a spotlight on the need for a global response to this pandemic,” said ONE Campaign President and CEO, Gayle Smith. “We need global cooperation and action to fight this pandemic – especially for the people, communities, and countries that are least able to withstand the shock. Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe.”

Background
#PasstheMic is part of ONE’s ONE World Campaign which is calling for a global response to COVID-19 that protects the most vulnerable, supports people worst hit economically, strengthens health systems and creates a more just and equal world. ONE supporters across the world have signed our petition telling governments that a global pandemic demands a global response.

For more information on #PassTheMic, including social content for the takeovers, and a full list of the celebrity and expert pairings, follow ONE on social media for announcements about upcoming takeovers.