Dear ONE members,

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to give kids worldwide a fighting chance against pneumonia. Go to www.missionpneumonia.org, and play Save the Children’s new game. Find out about childhood pneumonia and how Save the Children works to help parents and community health workers overcome obstacles to treating a child whose life hangs in the balance.

On November 2, 2009, Save the Children is joining with other groups worldwide to bring attention to the terrible toll that pneumonia takes in developing countries. A child dies of pneumonia every 15 seconds. That comes to about 2 million lives lost each year. But, with your help, more than 1 million lives could be saved by making affordable health measures available – including vaccines, and antibiotics – and by bringing health care closer to children’s homes. That’s just what Save the Children is doing every day to save children’s lives in 40 countries.

Now we’re enlisting you to help us prevent pneumonia from striking susceptible children and protecting their lives when it does. Here’s how:

• Play the game at www.missionpneumonia.org Learn what it takes to fight pneumonia around the world by taking our quiz.
• Sign the petition. Show your elected officials that you support expanding the reach of life-saving tools – vaccines, antibiotics and trained health workers – to more mothers and babies in poor countries.
  Pneumonia is the #1 killer of children under age 5, taking more lives than malaria, AIDS and measles combined. By accepting this mission, you can help keep kids healthy.

Thank you so much for your support,

-Mary Beth Powers, Campaign Chief, Survive to 5

Check out this post from our partner organization Save the Children, the first partner post in our Food Security in Focus series. This post focuses on how proper nutrition, particularly for children, is an essential component to achieving food security. Stay tuned to the blog for more entries over the coming month.

-Kara Arsenault

Today is my first day back at my office in Mozambique’s capitol city, Maputo. For the past week, I have been visiting our programs in the northern province of Nampula, where Save the Children is working to address high rates of childhood malnutrition.

In one rural community, I joined mothers and grandmothers who gathered to learn about nutrition from a trained community volunteer. The mood was animated and lively, with the women anxious to learn how to prepare food in a way that would make their children stronger. The women were a little shy when it came to asking me questions, but they were quick to smile.

During this gathering, the mothers learned how to cook enriched porridge. They had fun while preparing the food—there was a camaraderie among them that allowed them to let their guard down and just enjoy being together. They frequently sang while working.

Their children are part-and-parcel of who they are. They would never, for example, eat alone while their children played. When it came time to try the meal, each mother made sure her child got his or her fill before eating herself.

I am proud of the programs that Save the Children supports, like working with health centers and communities to prevent and treat malnutrition, helping farmers grow more nutritious food that they can sell on the market, encouraging exclusive breastfeeding, and helping caretakers feed their families well. And I’m proud of our emphasis on building community and government capacity to achieve these goals.

Together, these components ensure that families are food secure and that their well-nourished children thrive in economically-viable households. Here in northern Mozambique, we expect our USAID-funded work to significantly reduce the prevalence of malnutrition by 2011, the end of the three year program.

Malnutrition takes a big toll on children’s health. I’ve been working in this field for more than 10 years and I’m still humbled by the tireless efforts of health workers helping many dozens of people a day and parents walking hours to bring their sick children to clinics. To me, the workloads appear daunting and the conditions challenging. I learn a lot from my field visits, not only on the technical level of “what are we doing out there” and “how many results have we achieved,” but more importantly, on a human level, how people feel about their lives and their work. I come away feeling like our work is making a difference on both small and large scales. I always return to my desk with a renewed spirit of work.

-Tina Lloren, Regional Food Security and Nutrition Advisor, Africa Area Programs, Save the Children

Last week I spoke to 4-year-old Ercilia in the village of Muzingane Bairro 3. As she played with her friend Carlos on the swings at their preschool, Ercilia told me how much she loves her new playground. She smiled and laughed as Carlos pushed her high up into the air on the swing.

Nothing is more thrilling than the sight of a happy child like Ercilia. And we at Save the Children in Mozambique have seen a lot of joyful children lately — all of them laughing, playing and hanging out with friends at brand-new playgrounds outside of our preschools.

Here in the rural communities where we work, children had few amenities, much less new see-saws and jungle gyms. These new playgrounds, built with funds raised by the 2007 Idol Gives Back television special, add a whole new element of excitement to our early childhood development program. They also give children another reason to look forward to going to school every day.

The response from Americans to Idol Gives Back (video above) is a testament to the power that people can have when everyone works together to support a cause, much like we all do through the ONE campaign. With the opening of 31 playgrounds this summer and 42 preschools last summer, Americans have made it possible for over 3,000 Mozambican youngsters to learn and to play. I know that the kids are more excited than ever to go back to school this year.

The playgrounds were designed by three local Mozambican artists and the jungle gyms, seesaws and tire swings were all built with locally available and environmentally sustainable materials.

MACHALUCUANE, MOZAMBIQUE – JULY 15: Children play in the newly built ‘Idol Gives Back’ playground supported by Save the Children in Machalucuane, Mozambique on July 15, 2009. The village is located about 18 miles outside Xai-Xai, in Gaza province in Mozambique. The villagers have about 7 miles to the nearest hospital and secondary school. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Reportage by Getty Images for Save the Children.)

Aside from being a great addition to our schools, the playgrounds have created an opportunity for communities to come together and support education for their children.

Community members volunteered their time this summer to help build the structures and local auto mechanics donated used car tires for swings.

Through our work with the ONE campaign, we can continue to advocate for support for basic education, including early childhood development programs like the one in Mozambique, providing communities with the tools they need to improve the lives of their children.

-Domingos Mahangue, Field Operations Manager, Early Childhood Development Programs, Save the Children in Mozambique

Intel Corporation, Save the Children and Kiva.org have joined forces to raise awareness and funds in an effort to address two of the world’s most pressing challenges – providing access to quality education and fostering economic development where it’s needed most. Intel’s “The Small Things Challenge” aims to help ensure children in developing countries can attend primary school and entrepreneurs in need have a chance at success. Throughout the developing world more than 75 million primary age children are not in school – robbing them of future opportunity continuing the cycle of poverty – and at least 80 percent of humanity lives on less than ten dollars a day, according to data from the United Nations.

With the “Small Things Challenge,” we are encouraging you to do a very small thing in order to make a big difference. Through the program, Intel hopes to donate up to $300,000 this year to Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future education initiative, which is focused on securing quality education for the millions of children out of school due to war and armed conflict, and to Kiva.org, which facilitates microloans to entrepreneurs in need around the world.

So what is the “small thing” you can do? Visit www.smallthingschallenge.com and click on the “Intel will donate 25 cents for you” button on the left-hand-side of the website. For every click, Intel will donate 25 cents to be shared equally between Kiva.org and Save the Children. So easy to do over a morning cup of coffee! And better yet, it’s FREE.

To learn more about Save the Children or the Rewrite the Future initiative, you can also visit www.savethechildren.org.

To learn more about Kiva, visit www.kiva.org.

-Matt Flannery, Co-Founder and CEO of Kiva, & Ana Rahona, Communications Director, Save the Children

June 16 was the Day of the African Child. This year’s discussion, “Africa Fit for Children: Call for Accelerated Action Towards Their Survival,” was jointly hosted by the African Union and the African Diplomatic Corps, the Global Health Council, Save the Children, and the US Coalition for Child Survival. The panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Charles MacCormack, President and CEO of Save the Children, included Her Excellency Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States, Her Excellency Hawa Ndilowe, Ambassador of Malawi to the US, His Excellency Abdoulaye Diop, Ambassador of Mali to the US, Gloria Steele from USAID, and World Health Organization (WHO) Ambassador Liya Kebede.

Here are some highlights:

Her Excellency Amina Salum Ali: The Day of the African Child marks the third year celebration of good practices in Africa. During the past 5-7 years many countries, including Malawi, Botswana, Libya, and Ethiopia, have seen a reduction in child mortality. If Africa continues in this way, it will be on its way to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. However efforts on the ground need to be strengthened; Africa is capable of even more.

Her Excellency Hawa Olga Ndilowe: Africa has faced many challenges in health care and although there has been progress, more work lies ahead. Over the past few years Malawi has mainly focused on reducing child mortality and morbidity. To do this, the country has adopted three main community-level areas of focus:

• Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS
• Breast feeding: Generally, the recommendation in Malawi is that women living with HIV should not breast feed. This proves to be a big challenge as breastfeeding is usually the most affordable option.
• Increased access to clean water and sanitation, medications and education.

These strategies have been successful. Malawi has witnessed significant improvements in its mortality rates: maternal mortality has reduced from 234 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1992 to 122 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2006. In addition, infant mortality has reduced from 134 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1999 to 69 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2006. These figures are proof that we have the tools to save the lives of millions of women and children, we only have to reach them.

His Excellency Abdoulaye Diop: Through partnerships with UNICEF and Save the Children, the Ministry of Health is embarking on a national child survival strategy. Vulnerable groups – particularly mothers and newborns – will be a focus of integrated care at the community level. To care for both mother and child, community health care should be strengthened and focused on child immunizations, bed nets, and treatment. The Ministry of Health is eager to strengthen international partnerships, such as with Save the Children, and not only increase the frequency of care, but also the quality.

Gloria Steele: Many advocates have moved beyond rhetoric and into action and are getting results: there is renewed support for maternal and child health care – Congress increased its budget by 25% last year. Additionally, in 2008, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) reached 25 million people in one year alone. However, there is still a long way to go – 50 million children still suffer from malaria. Using resources more efficiently and integrating all our initiatives – including education, food security, and global health – can yield more results. Also, building capacity in these regions, including health systems, will help produce sustainable results.

Liya Kebede: “No woman should die giving life.” 99% percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, and about half of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. and 45% of women in sub-Saharan Africa deliver their babies in the absence of skilled attendance. The death of a mother severely affects the lives of her children: children who lose their mothers are five times more likely to die in infancy, more likely to miss out on life saving vaccinations, and less likely to go to school. Action is important now, especially as the H.R. 1410 Bill: Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Betty McCollum, is on the agenda for Congress.

-Pooja Gupta & Eloho Ovhori

A new report by Save the Children UK released today argues that reductions in child mortality can be accelerated if regular, predictable transfers of cash, or cash transfers, are provided to households or individuals by the government. Unlike traditional welfare programs, cash transfers in this case are conditional upon parents seeking and receiving certain services for their children. If children do not regularly attend school or get regular check-ups at health clinics, the cash transfer program will not pay out.

Cash transfers work to break down one barrier to families’ ability to access social services, namely the cost of the service. By addressing the ‘demand-side’ of issues related to alleviating poverty, cash transfer programs offer a complement to the ‘supply-side’ interventions which focus on increasing the availability of health, education, and nutrition services and programs.

The Save the Children report offers the following five recommendations:

1. Maternal and child benefits should be an integral part of child survival efforts in countries experiencing high rates of maternal and child mortality. Targets for expanding coverage should be set by the government in a way that makes sense for their national budget and administrative capacity.
2. Cash transfers should be implemented in combination with other policies and programmes.
3. Equity should be incorporated into the existing MDG framework so that the poorest and marginalized are not left behind. Reporting statistics on whether the poorest groups are receiving services intended for them should happen routinely.
4. The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health should include child and maternal benefits in the package of interventions it recommends for the Countdown to 2015 countries.
5. On the donor side, social protection programs – including cash transfers – should receive increased investment.

-Lisa Fleisher

Last month, to celebrate World Health Day, a group of organizations and activists launched an effort to encourage the United Nations to declare November 2nd as World Pneumonia Day. Pneumonia which is the leading killer of children around the world taking upwards of 2 million lives of children under 5 every year is rarely discussed in the media as a childhood killer and is often thought of only as a disease of the elderly. In communities around the world, it is often unrecognized and untreated – and simple cases become more severe and more costly to treat. Save the Children Artist Ambassador, Hugh Laurie, commented, “I work on a TV show that features the unusual, the bizarre, the unique. But the cases on House are brightly-colored minnows compared to the leviathan of pneumonia. It’s so big, you couldn’t make a TV show about it. But you could change it. So could I. We can and must change it.”

There is good news on pneumonia on both the prevention and treatment fronts. The advent of new and not so new vaccines being increasingly integrated into immunization programs around the world is critical. GAVI is at the forefront of promoting the integration of these newer vaccines which are effective against two of the leading causes of pneumonia. And, on the treatment side, the increasing recognition of community health workers as a key component of the strategy to more quickly diagnose and provide antibiotic treatment for cases of pneumonia when they do occur is vital to reducing pneumonia deaths. These prevention and treatment efforts have the potential to dramatically cut pneumonia deaths around the
world.

If you want to see the devastating effect of pneumonia on a young child and the simple solution, you can click on the link below to see the story of Karunesh, an Ethiopian infant, lucky enough to have a dedicated and trained community health worker near her village. And Karunesh’s story is just one of thousands of children’s whose lives are being saved thanks to simple diagnosis and treatment protocols that are being integrated into the training of community health workers in numerous countries around the world.

Finally, the coalition of pneumonia fighters has some new allies – Hedgefunds against Malaria has now become Hedgefunds against Malaria and Pneumonia and they are educating their membership and friends about the toll of these diseases.

More information about pneumonia and the work of organizations trying to stop it dead in its tracks is available at www.worldpneumoniaday.org

-Mary Beth Powers, Survive to 5 Campaign Chief, Save the Children USA

A mother and daughter, Sarita, who attends early childhood development classes in Nepal where teachers are trained by Save the Children. Sarita’s parents never went to school. They are determined to help Sarita have better opportunities.

Did you know that more children drop out of school in first or second grade than in any other year in most low-income countries?

If we are to achieve Millennium Development Goal #2 to make sure all children get an education, we need to do a better job of preparing children to go to school and stay in school.

Save the Children’s 10th annual State of the World’s Mothers report, released today, focuses on the link between early childhood development and future success in school. The report finds that millions of children are not prepared to succeed in school.

We need to do more than just teach ABCs and 1-2-3s. Eighty-five percent of brain development occurs before age 3. It’s clear we need to start earlier, and be smarter, to ensure a quality education for all children.

Mothers and families today are juggling child-rearing with work and threats brought on by poverty, AIDS, displacement and more. They’re doing some wonderful things for their children every day, but they often need extra help to help their children overcome the challenges they face.

It’s not complicated. There are simple, low-cost activities to keep children safe, healthy and learning. And, these activities are virtually the same, whether families live in the mountain villages of Nepal or the cattle ranches of Uganda. For example, mothers and care givers can read to their children or if no one can read, families can tell stories and rhyme with their children; and they can name things babies see and hear.

Do these programs work? Absolutely. For example, all illustrated in this video, in Nepal, more than 95 percent of children who had early learning opportunities went on to primary school, compared to 75 percent of non-participating children. And, in the Philippines, children who participated in early childhood development programs had a 5 to 10 percent school drop out rate, compared to the national average of 50 percent.

So, why are early childhood development activities not a part of every young child’s life? (more…)

It’s conference season in our nation’s capital! Several of ONE’s partners are hosting national conferences, trainings and advocacy workshops for poverty-fighting activists like you! Check out the list below and sign up to attend!

• April 21-22: Save the Children’s Advocacy Day 2009
• April 26-29: Sojourner’s Mobilization to End Poverty
• May 5-6: CARE’s National Conference and Celebration
• May 26-30: Global Health Council’s 36th Annual International Conference on Global Health
• June 14-16: Bread for the World’s Gathering: Rejoice. Hope. Act.
• June 20-23: RESULTS’ International Conference: Empowering People to End Poverty

–Margaret McDonnell, US NGO Partnerships and Faith Relations Team, ONE

Learn about how you can join Ayesha and advocates around the country in asking members of Congress to cosponsor the Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act of 2009 during Save the Children’s upcoming Advocacy Day (April 20-21) and beyond.

– Margaret McDonnell, NGO Partnerships

Ayesha is a 7th grade student from Louisville, Kentucky and she is on a mission to save newborn lives. Her journey started at the Kentucky Country Day School where she joined her classmates in crafting tiny caps to help keep newborns warm–part of Save the Children’s Survive to 5 campaign.

When she learned that more than 9 million children die each year from easily treatable and preventable causes, Ayesha decided to write a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to increase funding for health programs for newborns around the world. Ayesha wrote: “I made a hat for Save the Children because I think all babies should have the same chance to live that I have had.” Later on she was featured on her local TV news station to talk about her efforts (click here to watch the interview).

Ayesha is headed to the nation’s capitol, where she will represent Kentucky knitters and crocheters in Save the Children’s annual Advocacy Day held on April 21-22. Ayesha and her teacher, Lisa Stringfellow, are excited to share their stories with members of Congress to advocate for newborn and child health.
They will be visiting key members including Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, Senator Jim Bunning, and Representative John Yarmuth, who has visited the Kentucky school in the past and shown strong interest in child survival issues.

“I am hoping that the voices of children, like Ayesha, who care about this issue, will make a difference for legislators so they will act on behalf of children around the world,” says Stringfellow who has been to Washington in the past to attend previous Advocacy Day events. She noted: “To imagine a child not surviving due to a lack of simple interventions is heartbreaking, and my students really feel they can make a difference.”

Advocates throughout the U.S., including young students like Ayesha and celebrities like Gwenyth Paltrow, are pressing for American leadership to save the millions of children under five who die each year from preventable causes through greater investment in low-cost, highly effective, lifesaving interventions, such as vitamins, antibiotics and vaccines. They are encouraging their members of Congress to co-sponsor the Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act of 2009 (HR 1410). To learn about how you can raise your voice to help make a difference in the lives of newborn and children around the world, click here.

-Joyce H. Newman, Senior Editor, Save the Children USA