A Healthy Beginning: January to April
Thanks to an outpouring of support as 2008 drew to a close, Global Impact funded charities were able to continue providing life-saving and life-sustaining assistance to millions across the globe. In order to keep the momentum going, here are some simple and inexpensive ways you can continue to make a real global impact throughout the entire year.
January: Provide a mother and child with a healthy start
Every year, more than 2 million children—or 35,000 a day—die from easily preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, measles and diphtheria. Using a powerful combination of high quality, low-cost and sustainable health measures Plan USA’s Child Survival Solutions improve the health and survival of both pregnant women and their at-risk children.
Recognizing that a healthy mother is critical to the development of a healthy child, Plan provides maternal care before, during and after childbirth, as well as education and training for traditional, local birthing attendants and midwives. After a successful delivery, a $20 vaccine regimen helps to immunize a child against each of the six deadly diseases mentioned above.
Such immunization programs are credited with saving the lives of more than 20 million children over the past two decades.
February: Save a malnourished child with essential nutrients
According to Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), at any given moment 20 million children worldwide are suffering from the most deadly form of severe acute malnutrition, and up to five million children under the age of five die annually of related complications.
To combat this epidemic, which the organization named as one of its Top 10 Humanitarian Crises of 2008, MSF provides mothers in malnutrition “hotspots” with therapeutic ready-to-use foods like Plumpy’nut.
Through this program, mothers in places such as the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and South Asia can treat their children at home.
One 4-week regimen of Plumpy’nut costs only $20 and can increase a child’s weight by up to 8 pounds—which could literally mean the difference between life and death.
March: Give the gift of clean, safe, accessible drinking water
Since nearly three quarters of the Earth is covered by water, there should be plenty for everyone. To the contrary, one in six people worldwide lack access to clean, safe water.
In many poverty-stricken areas, there simply is not enough water available to sustain lives and livelihoods. Women and children travel for miles, often placing themselves in harm’s way, just to fetch water for cooking, drinking and bathing. In other developing regions, water is abundant yet severely contaminated; 6,000 children die every day from water-borne illnesses like cholera and malaria. These same diseases also prevent their parents from earning a steady income when they become ill.
Using cost-effective tools, U.S. Fund for UNICEF (UNICEF) provides safe water and sanitation to millions. UNICEF distributes oral rehydration salts; at $20 for 250 packets, a little goes a long way to reverse the effects of severe dehydration. And for only $5, the organization can provide three 10-liter collapsible water containers, making transporting and storing water easier and safer.
April: Treat those with HIV/AIDS and prevent countless others from contracting the disease
HIV/AIDS is a global health crisis affecting the health and stability of individuals, communities and entire nations.
USAID reports that worldwide, an estimated 33 million people are currently living with HIV, and 2.7 million were newly infected in 2007 alone. Women are most at risk, making up 50 percent of all global cases of HIV/AIDS, and resulting in more than 14 million children orphaned by the disease. A lack of trained medical workers compounds the problem, leaving many without the critical medications that can keep them alive and healthy.
Salvation Army World Service Office (SAWSO) works in partnership with local affiliates in high-risk areas, including South Africa, Haiti, Nigeria and Zambia, to prevent the spread of new infections and care for those currently affected by HIV/AIDS. For $100, SAWSO offers a home-based care kit containing basic supplies such as soap and bandages in order to maintain hygiene and prevent infection; an additional $150 can provide a year’s worth of anti-retroviral drug therapy for a sick individual.
Every year, more than 2 million children—or 35,000 a day—die from easily preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, measles and diphtheria. Using a powerful combination of high quality, low-cost and sustainable health measures Plan USA’s Child Survival Solutions improve the health and survival of both pregnant women and their at-risk children.
Recognizing that a healthy mother is critical to the development of a healthy child, Plan provides maternal care before, during and after childbirth, as well as education and training for traditional, local birthing attendants and midwives. After a successful delivery, a $20 vaccine regimen helps to immunize a child against each of the six deadly diseases mentioned above.
Such immunization programs are credited with saving the lives of more than 20 million children over the past two decades.
February: Save a malnourished child with essential nutrients
 Photo: Jean-Pierre Amigo/MSF
An infant in Niger is treated for malnutrition.
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To combat this epidemic, which the organization named as one of its Top 10 Humanitarian Crises of 2008, MSF provides mothers in malnutrition “hotspots” with therapeutic ready-to-use foods like Plumpy’nut.
Through this program, mothers in places such as the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and South Asia can treat their children at home.
One 4-week regimen of Plumpy’nut costs only $20 and can increase a child’s weight by up to 8 pounds—which could literally mean the difference between life and death.
March: Give the gift of clean, safe, accessible drinking water
 Photo: U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Many kids in developing countries have the daily task of collecting water from distant streams and springs. Not only is it grueling work, hauling water can take several hours and keeps children out of school.
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In many poverty-stricken areas, there simply is not enough water available to sustain lives and livelihoods. Women and children travel for miles, often placing themselves in harm’s way, just to fetch water for cooking, drinking and bathing. In other developing regions, water is abundant yet severely contaminated; 6,000 children die every day from water-borne illnesses like cholera and malaria. These same diseases also prevent their parents from earning a steady income when they become ill.
Using cost-effective tools, U.S. Fund for UNICEF (UNICEF) provides safe water and sanitation to millions. UNICEF distributes oral rehydration salts; at $20 for 250 packets, a little goes a long way to reverse the effects of severe dehydration. And for only $5, the organization can provide three 10-liter collapsible water containers, making transporting and storing water easier and safer.
April: Treat those with HIV/AIDS and prevent countless others from contracting the disease
HIV/AIDS is a global health crisis affecting the health and stability of individuals, communities and entire nations.
USAID reports that worldwide, an estimated 33 million people are currently living with HIV, and 2.7 million were newly infected in 2007 alone. Women are most at risk, making up 50 percent of all global cases of HIV/AIDS, and resulting in more than 14 million children orphaned by the disease. A lack of trained medical workers compounds the problem, leaving many without the critical medications that can keep them alive and healthy.
Salvation Army World Service Office (SAWSO) works in partnership with local affiliates in high-risk areas, including South Africa, Haiti, Nigeria and Zambia, to prevent the spread of new infections and care for those currently affected by HIV/AIDS. For $100, SAWSO offers a home-based care kit containing basic supplies such as soap and bandages in order to maintain hygiene and prevent infection; an additional $150 can provide a year’s worth of anti-retroviral drug therapy for a sick individual.
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