Peter Yeo

Vice President, Public Policy and Executive Director, BWC, BWC, United Nations Foundation

Peter Yeo joined the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Campaign in February 2009 with over twenty years of legislative, analytical, and management experience, including senior roles on Capitol Hill and in the State Department.  Prior to arriving at UNF,  Yeo served for ten years as the Deputy Staff Director at the House Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). He has worked on a broad range of foreign policy and foreign aid issues. He led the successful negotiations for the landmark HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, commonly known as PEPFAR, as well as the successful $50 billion reauthorization of the law in 2008.

He also shepherded into law several measures dealing with China, Tibet, Burma, and East Timor.  Prior to his work with the Committee, he served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. State Department during the second Clinton Administration, where he led the negotiations around repayment of the U.S. arrears to the United Nations and was part of the U.S. delegation to the climate negotiations in Kyoto. Yeo holds a BA in East Asian Studies from Wesleyan University as well as a MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Blog Posts by Peter Yeo

The million dollar question
What would you do with a million dollars? What about $350 million? Last year, that’s how much Congress agreed to spend on global vaccines, and to put it in perspective, that’s only 0.0001% of the entire U.S. federal budget. This money helps save the lives of 2.5 million children every year. That’s money well spent.
May 16, 2013

A new shot at life for Suleiman – and millions of other children worldwide
The kids were lined up three rows deep in 115-degree heat when I arrived yesterday in Bandouki, an isolated village in northern Cameroon. But their mothers, and older sisters in some cases, knew that vaccination day was worth the wait...
May 1, 2013

Just Two Drops
Just two drops. That's all the vaccine it takes to save a child from polio – and lifelong debilitation...
April 30, 2013

Twenty million reasons to keep up momentum on global immunizations
In the past two decades, immunization efforts have averted an estimated 20 million deaths globally. Yet, for all the progress that has been made--thanks largely to a sustained investment from the United States, the United Nations, other governments, and private partnerships--a great need remains...
April 24, 2013

Celebrating World Immunization Week from Abu Dhabi to Cameroon
Greetings from Abu Dhabi! I just arrived for the Global Vaccine Summit, hosted by Bill Gates, His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and – aside from the heat – I’m ecstatic to be here...
April 24, 2013

A birthday gift to help end polio
Today marks a special day for one of Shot@Life’s valuable partners. February 23 is the 108th anniversary of the founding meeting of Rotary International. The world’s first service club began with just four members; today, Rotary International claims a membership of 1.2 million with over 32,000 clubs across the world...
February 23, 2013

Happy Birthday, FDR – A Celebration and Reminder
Today—on the 131st anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s birth—I am reminded not only of the leadership demonstrated by one of America’s great Presidents and pioneers in the fight against polio, but also of the work that remains in eradicating the disease. It’s hard to believe that polio, which afflicted FDR nearly a century ago, continues to plague many in the world today.
January 30, 2013

Vote Vaccines 2012
At this point in an election year, if the presidential candidates and their election campaigns have done their job right, you probably have a pretty good idea of where they stand on issues that are important to you and your family. Three in four Americans say foreign policy impacts their vote. Does it impact yours? Do you know where the candidates stand on prioritizing global health and vaccines?
October 15, 2012

One dad's promise for children
Today is the beginning of the Child Survival call to Action Summit, held in Washington to build momentum on the work being done to end preventable childhood deaths. As a dad, I can’t think of a more important task...
June 14, 2012

Think of it this way: This week is not just about eating less. It's about taking action.
Live Below the Line isn’t really about getting me to eat less (which is sorely needed). Rather, it’s a good way to remind ourselves, and educate our friends and family, that more than 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.50 per day. And when you’re living on $1.50 a day, you don’t have money for things we take for granted here in the U.S. – like lifesaving vaccines for our kids...
May 9, 2012

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