El Salvador

El Salvador Statistics

• Young children have an alarming stunted growth rate of 18%
• Mothers are over four times more likely to die in childbirth than in the USA
• Over 45% of Salvadoran children do not reach secondary education
• Nearly 2 out of 100 children die before their fifth birthday
• Diarrhea and pneumonia, account for over 1 out of 4 of young children’s deaths

El Salvador Quick Facts

In 2010, Save the Children reached over 800,000 people, including:

• 19,000 children through early development programs
• 23,350 babies with newborn health kits
• 21,000 people with emergency relief
• 5,730 children through school nutrition

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Selena studies hard so she can stay in school and help her family break free from the cycle of poverty.

El Salvador, the smallest Central American country, has faced some of the region’s greatest challenges.

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, conflict and gang violence, plus epidemics have wreaked havoc on the Salvadoran people for decades. Save the Children has worked in El Salvador since 1979 – just prior to the onset of the country’s 12-year-long civil war.

GLOBAL CHILDREN'S EMERGENCY FUND IN ACTION

Save the Children is responded to flooding emergencies in El Salvador - as well as floods in Honduras, Nicaragua, Thailand, Cambodia and other countries affected by severe storms. In El Salvador, persistent rains resulted in significant flooding, landslides and loss of life. Officials estimate that more than 5,000 people are currently in temporary shelters. Save the Children has already reached more than 3,200 people with assistance and more aid is on the way.

You can help Save the Children respond to floods in El Salvador, as well as other emergencies such as monsoon floods in Asia, drought in Africa, earthquakes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and other catastrophies around the world. When disaster strikes, chaos reigns and it is not always immediately clear what help will be needed or how much. By contributing to our Children's Emergency Fund, you will enable us to immediately serve children through disaster planning, preparedness, response and recovery work around the world.

Learn more about:

• Challenges for Children
• Disaster Relief and Recovery
• Results and Impact
• How You Can Help

Challenges for Children

Extreme rural poverty – living on less than $1 per day in shanties without running water or electricity – creates chronic problems for some of El Salvador’s children. Too often, toddlers aren’t read stories or taught to sing ABCs. Slow to speak and even play with toys, kids who grow up without early childhood development activities can be disadvantaged for life. That’s why Save the Children supports programs for families like Delfia and her son Juan. Read their story.

Access to health and education services are limited, made worse by under-resourced institutions that struggle to meet basic technical and operational capacity. Violence plagues children in both urban and rural El Salvador. As families left rural villages after the Civil War, a generation was uprooted or brought up by extended family members. With little opportunity in the cities and growing school dropout rates, gangs and a child-trafficking crisis have emerged.

Disaster Relief and Recovery

Located on the volcanic “Ring of Fire” and in the Hurricane Zone, children in El Salvador have suffered through more than their share of natural disasters.

Hard hit by fierce storms, makeshift dwellings are washed often away. Landslides and mudslides have killed hundreds of people in recent years. Among the most devastating disasters have been the 1986 and 2001 earthquakes, Hurricane Stan and the Santa Ana volcano in 2005, and torrential rains in 2009. These deadly natural disasters destroyed homes and livelihoods.

Save the Children’s disaster relief efforts in El Salvador have provided survivors with water, blankets, diapers, children's clothing, toys and much more. We also created “Child Friendly Spaces” to help kids feel safe and get back to normal in the aftermath of a crisis or disaster. There, children can attend classes and take part in playing, art, sports, music and dance. To improve food security and incomes, we provided poor farming families with seeds, livestock, tools and temporary jobs with relevant projects. Read about our response to Tropical Storm Agatha in 2010.

Results and Impact

Our programs have helped children and their families in many ways including health, education, emergency response and violence prevention initiatives. For example, 9 out of 10 children attending our early childhood development program successfully reached first grade.

Much progress has been made through the hard work of the Salvadoran people, as well as government agencies and charities. Child mortality – the number of boys and girls who die before their fifth birthday – has been reduced by almost half since 2000, at the same time, government institutions and civil society have been strengthened in their ability to protect children efficiently.

But even one child lost to preventable death is too many. At last account, one out of three children in El Salvador suffered from malnutrition. Half of El Salvador’s rural children were so severely malnourished their growth was stunted – leaving many potentially disadvantaged for the rest of their lives.

Last Updated on December 2011

External Sources: World Bank, UNICEF, WHO