Norfolk,  VA-Today at Old Dominion  University (ODU), Congressman Glenn Nye (D-VA) joined national security and  global health experts, as well as members of the global anti-poverty  organization ONE, to discuss America’s strategic role in combating global  poverty and preventable diseases like AIDS and malaria.

At the first-ever  “ONE Town Hall,” presented by ONE and in partnership with Old Dominion Graduate  Society for International Studies, Nye discussed America’s successful  development efforts that have saved lives and thwarted instability. Nye also  stressed the connection between U.S. development efforts and U.S.  security.

Joining Nye on the  panel was Brigadier Gen. Ron Sconyers, president of Physicians for Peace; Dr.  David Earnest, Old Dominion International Studies professor; Matthew Bartlett,  ONE grassroots field organizer and trainer; and John Applebaugh, ONE member and  ODU graduate student.

The foreign policy  discussion, attended by Old Dominion students and faculty, focused on the need  to strengthen and continue U.S. efforts to fight diseases, provide education and  create economic opportunity in the developing world, especially  as the global economic downturn is hitting the world’s poor the hardest-with  another 53 million more people expected to be living in extreme poverty as a  result of the crisis.

The  panel discussed how America’s global health efforts, thanks largely to the  bipartisan support of the U.S. Congress, have delivered historic results over  the past several years. More than 2 million people with HIV/AIDS in Africa are  receiving basic medicines and beating the disease thanks to America’s  commitment. That number is up from just 50,000 in 2003. Millions more are  surviving malaria because of cost-effective investments in simple bed nets and  medicines. Some 34 million more children living in the world’s poorest and often  most dangerous regions have been given the chance to go to school for the first  time in recent years, opening the door to productive  futures.

ONE, a  nonpartisan, grassroots organization whose members work in their local  communities to raise awareness of global poverty and treatable, preventable  disease and help build the political will to address these challenges. ONE  brings together people from all backgrounds and political beliefs to achieve  change through advocacy and public mobilization, urging leaders to invest in  tested, proven solutions that save lives and combat extreme poverty. Next week,  Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA) will participate in a “ONE Town Hall” at The  College of William & Mary.

Before entering  Congress in Jan. 2009, Rep. Nye was a Foreign Service officer who spent more  than ten years overseas, volunteering to serve in conflict zones around the  world including Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He sits on the House Armed  Services Committee and the House Veterans Affairs  Committee.