Our Saving Newborn Lives initiative is celebrating two decades of progress in reducing neonatal mortality. Through proven and cost-effective interventions, ranging from improved quality of prenatal care to initiating breastfeeding at birth, Save the Children has helped reduce newborn deaths by over 40% since 2000, saving 1.5 million babies each year.

Every year, around 46 million patients, many of them new mothers and babies, acquire an infection while being treated at a hospital or health facility. We developed the Clean Clinic Approach, now implemented in 47 facilities around the world and counting. This initiative helps health workers follow effective prevention strategies through cleaner facilities, safe water, handwashing and effective cleaning in their daily routines.

Our staff are working tirelessly to help girls and boys across rural America catch up on the education they missed because of the pandemic. Before the new school year began, we provided learning materials to over 50,000 kids and we’ve adapted our math and reading programs to help kids build these important skills no matter how schools currently operate on various schedules. Our local early childhood coordinators continue to provide remote guidance, tips and activities to help parents of infants and toddlers stimulate their children’s development. Additionally, we supported the delivery of 9 million meals through the end of August and piloted cash-transfer programming in California and Kentucky to help families put food on the table.

Save Our Education is our global initiative to help 1.5 billion children whose education was disrupted by COVID-19. We support students, along with their families and communities, to overcome barriers to learning and getting back to school. Our teams continue to support remote learning and, where possible, run “back-to-school” campaigns, helping families made poorer by COVID-19 afford school fees, supporting teachers, and making sure schools have clean water and latrines.

Last year, we distributed $79 million in cash transfers to help meet the complex needs of families in fragile places around the world, combat food insecurity and keep children safely in their homes. Now, as the pandemic threatens livelihoods and food security even more, we are leveraging this expertise to help families like Zenebech’s, making sure they have food on the table and a roof over their heads.

Each year, some 12 million girls marry before they turn 18. By 2030, it’s estimated 150 million girls will have lost their childhoods to this all-too-common practice. COVID-19 will likely increase that number as families look for ways to cut costs – including pulling girls from school and forcing them to marry. You help us take innovative steps to fight for the lives of girls like 14-year-old Zakiya in Niger who is continuing her education despite many of her peers being already married.

Dr. Masar Khalid – Yemen

In a nation where basics like clean water can be difficult to come by, Dr. Masar Khalid, her colleagues and the patients they treat rely on your generosity. You help provide protective equipment and cleaning supplies so clinics can make sure staff and those they care for remain as safe as possible. 

Dr. Elia Martinez – Latin America

Our health teams across Latin America look to Dr. Elia Martinez, an obstetrician gynecologist, for up-to-date pandemic guidance. She has extensive experience delivering humanitarian health care in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Colombia. Since April, she has been leading our Emergency Health Unit’s COVID-19 response in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the disease has affected millions of people.