Decreasing Child Mortality
We are working with the UN and private partners to advance leading health campaigns aimed at decreasing child mortality. Our work has helped reduce the geographic range of polio from 30 to 4 countries; cut measles deaths by 90% in Africa and 70% worldwide; mobilize more than 1 million nets for malaria prevention; and immunize more than 500 million children. These efforts have saved millions of lives and enriched the lives of the individuals and organizations whose stories are found below.
STORIES OF IMPACT
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Net distribution impact reaches far & wide
Area of Involvement: Children’s Health
In the fall of 2008, our Nothing But Nets campaign helped to distribute 855,000 insecticide-treated bed nets as part of an integrated measles campaign in Côte d’Ivoire, reaching all corners of the country - the towns, the beaches, and the most rural outlying areas. The crowds of children and families waiting for their nets, smiling as they thank the health workers and volunteers, singing and dancing and crying, all tell a story of how a blue bed net is making a difference– it’s keeping them alive.
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Selam: The bravest girl in Ethiopia, fighting malaria
Area of Involvement: Children’s Health
(Part five of Elizabeth Gore's blog series on Ethiopia) Selam, an Eritrean girl I met today, might be the most beautiful child I have ever seen. At only seven years old, Selam walked by herself across the border from Eritrea into Ethiopia. She was trying to locate family members who might be in the refugee camps. Imagine being seven and making a journey like that. Her bravery astounded me!
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Sending anti-malaria nets to refugees in Ethiopia
Area of Involvement: Children’s Health
(Part six of Elizabeth Gore's blog series on Ethiopia) Standing in Mai-Aini refugee camp in Ethiopia, I was reminded why it is imperative that the UN Foundation fills a vital gap in malaria funding by providing anti-malaria bed nets, the most cost effective method of malaria prevention, to refugees in Africa. Mai-Aini, a camp on the Ethiopia – Eritrea border, hosts 10,000 refugees with 1,200 new people arriving per day from the turbulent country of Eritrea.
