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Save the Children Receives $1 Million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Aid Children in Myanmar
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Save the Children stocking warehouses with food and water. |
Westport, Conn. (May 28, 2008) — Save the Children today announced a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its immediate and long-term relief and recovery efforts in cyclone-stricken Myanmar. The grant was received within days after the cyclone hit, allowing Save the Children to quickly deliver humanitarian aid. Official figures are that 78,000 are dead, 56,000 are missing, and there have been over a million people affected since Cyclone Nargis hit the southwestern corner of Myanmar on May 3.
"Over the past three weeks, Save the Children has reached more than 208,000 children and families with life-saving items," said Save the Children CEO and president Charles MacCormack. "But many communities in the disaster-affected areas have yet to be reached, and more aid will be needed over the coming weeks, months and even years as families begin to piece their lives back together."
MacCormack added, "We greatly appreciate this contribution from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for our Myanmar cyclone relief efforts. This donation will enable Save the Children to expand our program response to reach even more children made vulnerable by this disaster."
"Children are especially vulnerable following a natural disaster, especially one of this magnitude," said Charles Lyons, Director of Special Initiatives, Global Development Program for the Gates Foundation. "With more than a decade of experience working in Myanmar, Save the Children is positioned to quickly respond to the needs of children and families affected by the cyclone."
To date, Save the Children has reached 208,953 people with food, water, shelter materials, household supplies and oral-rehydration salts to treat diarrhea. Survivors receiving assistance include more than 130,000 people in the Yangon area, nearly 70,000 in the western Delta and more than 15,000 in the country's eastern Delta region. The agency, which has been working in Myanmar for 13 years, has programs in the five most devastated districts.
While assistance is reaching many children and families in need, thousands of lives are still at risk. The cyclone has left more than 1 million people homeless and destroyed thousands of homes and schools. Humanitarian agencies are expressing concern about an impending hungry season, as the rice planting that normally begins in June may be hampered by lack of tools and supplies, as well as by land made less arable by an influx of salt water from the storm surge. Even before the disaster, an estimated 30 percent of children in the region suffered from chronic malnutrition, according to health experts.
Save the Children has raised nearly $5 million in donations and pledges in the United States for its Myanmar cyclone response. Save the Children agencies worldwide are seeking $28 million for its relief efforts.
Save the Children, with 500 staff in-country, is one of the largest nongovernmental organizations at work in Myanmar. The agency implements programs focused on early childhood care and development, child survival and child protection.
Learn more about Save the Children's response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.
About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people — especially those with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
