World Vision Taiwan Calls on Public to Join Child Health Now Initiative and Help Defend Children’s Right to Survival.
• World Vision study: Children who are born in Singapore are 60 times more likely to reach their fifth birthday than their counterpart in Somalia.
• UNISEF’s September 2012 report: last year, there were 6.9 million children globally, who died before reaching their fifth birthday. The leading causes among children under age five are preventable or easily treatable diseases, including pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and childbirth complications. Under-nutrition contributes to more than a third of early childhood deaths.
Taipei, 1 November 2012 – World Vision Taiwan calls on the public not to overlook the silent emergency of the plight of children under-five, by participating in World Vision’s Child Health Now campaign, which aims to provide sufficient food and nutrition for children, as fulfillment of their right to survival.
Child Health Now Campaign – Saving Children Under-Five from Dying of Preventable Diseases
World Vision launched the Child Health Now campaign in November 2009, which aims to help the world reach Millennium Development Goal 4 – to reduce child and maternal deaths worldwide by 2015; specifically, to decrease the mortality rate among under-five children to under four million deaths, and lower maternal deaths by three-fourths.
There are simple and low-cost measures such as immunization, bed nets, oral rehydration, more skilled birth attendants, and exclusive breastfeeding, which could significantly improve the health of children in the poorest countries, and save millions of lives.
Since World Vision initiated the Child Health Now campaign in 2009, the global mortality rate for children under-five has dropped from 8.8 million children a year in 2009, to 6.9 million in 2011. While the efforts have seen evident improvements, change isn’t happening fast enough! There is still a gap between the current mortality rate and the 2015 goal of reducing early childhood deaths to under four million per year.
World Vision Adapts Health Programs According to Each Locality’s Needs
World Vision works with children and communities in nearly 100 countries, and the agency’s life-saving health programs are adapted to suit each locality’s specific needs, in regards to education for children and women’s nutrition, as well as hygiene and sanitation.
World Vision Mozambique – Fatima’s Story
Standing in front of the house, Fatima Paulo, 34, watches her son, Augusto, 4, squat on the ground driving his favorite car, which is made from a plastic bottle and its caps. “Life is full of joy now,” Fatima says; but her life was not always like this. Three years ago, Fatima’s baby boy almost died from a severe case of malnutrition. Now thanks to World Vision Mozambique’s nutritional education outreach efforts, Augusto survived.
This experience and her commitment to see healthy children in her community has led Fatima to become a World Vision volunteer. “I saw my child grow gradually,” Fatima recalls. Augusto started to put on weight and play. “My friends came to ask me ‘what was the magic’ I used to rehabilitate him? From there I felt that I needed to do something to help fight against malnutrition.”
World Vision Cambodia – Sophors’ Story
Sophors, 27, is married with two children. In Sophors’ village, everyone used the bushes as outdoor toilets and they drank only unboiled water. Village children, including Sophors’ six year-old son Dang Ly, would often get sick with fever, diarrhea, and stomach aches, and their parents would have to spend all their income on the children’s medical treatment. In 2008, World Vision Cambodia went to Sophors’ village and held many training sessions on hygiene, sanitation, and child health.
After the training, Sophors began clearing the bushes around her home, which were prone to host snakes and other insects. She also started boiling water for her family to drink daily, and saved money to build a toilet. Sophors’ efforts inspired her fellow villagers, and many started to follow her example. Sophors smiles as she thanks World Vision staff and the health program they introduced to the village, “You brought us good knowledge and awakened us to love hygiene and be clean, because we think about children’s health.”
Count Me In - I Want Children to Survive 5!
World Vision Taiwan is once again launching the Child Health Now campaign, so that all children can survive past their fifth birthday! WV Taiwan is inviting people to help defend children’s right to survival by participating in the following five actions:
1. Show your support with WV Taiwan’s Child Health Now November Action Month campaign – take a photo of yourself with your hands up and say “Count me in - I want all children to Survive 5!” Post your creative photo to WV Taiwan’s Facebook fans photo album.
2. Join the Orange Wristband action – wear the Orange Wristband and the Child Health Now theme T-shirt, and start a conversation with your friends and family; spread the word through your Facebook, blogs, etc., and advocate for child health.
3. Sign the Child Health Now on-line petition on WV Taiwan’s official website, show your support, and call on others to help children survive 5!
4. Make your donation to the Child Health Now campaign.
5. Join the 24th Annual 30 Hour Famine humanitarian emergency response campaign, show your love and care for the world’s children suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition.
More ways you can help:
‧ For more information on Child Health Now campaign, please visit www.childhealthnow.worldvision.org.tw
‧ For donations via postal remittance, account number: 15752467 (Account name: World Vision Taiwan). Please note the donation is for “Child Health Now” campaign.
‧ Online donation via website: www.worldvision.org.tw
‧ For further information, please contact our Service Hotline: (02) 2175-1995 or E-mail: pr@worldvision.org.tw
For further media info please contact Yang Hueiping, Public Relations Manager at
Tel: 02-2175-1996 (Ext. 301) or Mobile: 0926-264-027