Health

The SWAP project is improving the survival of small and sick newborns and mothers likely to deliver pre-terms through Protecting Infants Remotely by SMS (PRISMS) which is a mobile technology application designed to streamline and standardize newborn care in low-resource settings.

Marenet*, 57, is a mother of six who has suffered from ureterovaginal prolapse (UVP) for over twelve years, a condition that began during the delivery of her last child. Marenet’s family are subsistence farmers living in a remote village in the Tigray region, an area significantly impacted by a conflict that lasted for more than three years. This conflict caused extensive devastation to the region’s health infrastructure and overall health services. The impact of the war is still visible, and recovery will require a long time.To address these problems, Save the Children launched the surge team strategy with financial assistance from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. By deploying highly skilled medical and surgical teams to remote and inaccessible facilities, local people were able to receive life-saving services. These services targeted individuals with low incomes who could not afford health care and other related expenses. Consequently, the community benefited from free health treatments.Marenet’s story highlights the transformative impact of the medical care she received, giving her hope and a renewed sense of vitality.

Azeb*, 30, recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy after receiving fertility treatment from the surge team in her hometown of Tigray. This milestone came after nine failed pregnancies due to miscarriages. Azeb had never thought she would be able to conceive and had suffered marginalization and social ostracism due to long-standing misconceptions associated with miscarriage and infertility in her community.Her baby boy, now four months old, is in good health. She brings him to the facility for his regular monthly checkups and immunizations. We met and talked with Azeb during one of her visits to the health center for her child’s follow-up appointment. During the visit, she received advice on how to care for her baby and other health messages. Her baby also received his monthly vaccines, which protect him from infectious diseases.

The Save the Children Immunisation Accelerator, backed by GSK, has selected two standout projects to improve child vaccination rates in Nigeria and Ethiopia, where millions of children remain unvaccinated.Both projects were chosen from 120 submissions and will receive $100,000 in support. These innovations aim to transform immunization outcomes and are part of a broader mission to ensure no child suffers from preventable diseases.

The mpox epidemic in the DRC is unfolding in a country already plagued by conflict, hunger and disease. Children are nearly four times more likely to die from mpox than adults, making them particularly vulnerable to this outbreak. Read the blog to learn more about the situation, our response, and how you can help.

"Since the start of the rains in June, flooding has added another layer of difficulty to delivering humanitarian aid to people in dire need"

Increased rates of acute malnutrition in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has put millions at heightened risk of contracting and dying of mpox

Hundreds of thousands of children now displaced from their homes are facing disease, hunger from crop destruction, and disruption to their education

Press release Save the Children mpox spreading South Kivu DRC children

Staff account by a humanitarian worker in Haiti who has been directly affected by the rising violence