Maternal and Child Health

The Nutrition Barometer provides a snapshot of national governments’ commitments to addressing children’s nutrition, and the progress they have made. It looks at 36 developing countries with the highest levels of child undernutrition. The Barometer measures governments’ political and legal commitment to tackling malnutrition, as well as their financial commitment.

“Child Health Now” is World Vision’s first global campaign focused on a single issue: reducing the preventable deaths of children under five. In the two minutes it will take you to read this description, more than 30 children under the age of five will die. This is more than just a problem facing the developing world. It’s a “silent” emergency. And it is, we believe, the greatest child rights violation of our time.

In 1985, USAID and UNICEF launched an initiative to combat preventable childhood diseases. In the decades since, as a leading innovator and one of the largest donors to global maternal and child health efforts, the U.S., led by USAID, has played a vital role in the development and delivery of low-cost, high-impact interventions to improve the health of the most vulnerable children and mothers.

World Vision is committed to improving the health and nutrition of women and children in the areas in which it works, contributing to the global reduction of under-five and maternal mortality.

Good health in early childhood, especially in the first 1,000 days from conception to their second birthday, is the foundation of a child’s wellbeing. It saddens us tremendously that every day more than 20,000 children under 5 will die of preventable causes.

Purchase a packet or jar of Good Spread peanut butter (made in Georgia) and the company will donate therapeutic nutrition to a child in need. Good Spread partners with MANA (Mother Administered Nutritive Aid) and World Vision who distributes the Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to malnourished children around the world.

“This unprecedented access to mobile phones at the village level, it really does change the game,” says Sherrie Simms, head of global nonprofit World Vision’s mHealth efforts. “It’s like having a mini-computer in your hand that allows for a whole host of potential uses and applications for health education.”

There has been much talk about innovations in mobile health technologies among the international aid community in recent years. But now there’s a new kid on the block: Point of care (POC). World Vision International is one of the in-country partners involved in implementing the POC CD4 testing.

Approximately 805 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about 1 in 9 people on earth. And that stat gets even sadder when you understand all of the impacts of malnutrition on the body — especially on a child. See how World Vision recommends we catch world hunger and save the minds, hearts, and bodies of millions of children all around the world.

In a statement to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bob Zachritz, vice president for advocacy and government relations at World Vision U.S., said President Obama's proposed budget “makes a strong commitment to the international affairs budget, which will help partner organizations like World Vision meet the needs of the most vulnerable around the world.”

World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, is one of three groups involved in a $250 million campaign called the Innovative Medicines Initiative that aims to accelerate the development and manufacturing of Ebola vaccines. In addition to working to facilitate the trial of the Ebola vaccines, World Vision is developing a mobile app to send alerts and information to West Africans.

The Ebola outbreak has again revealed an international health system that lacks the plans and capabilities to fight an epidemic or pandemic. Atop the pyramid of this health system sits the United Nations’ World Health Organization, whose 1948 charter gives it “directing authority” for “international health work.” World Visionand other NGOs have a presence around the world. These are the players who increasingly lead transformations in global health, eclipsing the WHO and its model of statist solutions.

When Ebola ends, the people who have suffered, who have lost loved ones, will need many things. They will need ways to rebuild their livelihoods. They will need a functioning health system, which can ensure that future outbreaks do not become catastrophes. And they will need mental health care. We sometimes imagine depression is a first-world problem, but it is just as widespread, if not more so, in poor countries, where there is a good deal more to be depressed about.