Children’s lives need to be seen (and cared for) as wholes. Lives are saved by how their communities care for them. A package approach is needed. Medical services are needed, but a great deal can be done to prevent children from getting sick. Education is key, especially education of mothers who then with other mothers create caring groups throughout the community.

What We Are Doing:

  • Class of 2007 alumna Melene Kabadege of Rwanda entered our program with a background in public health and nursing and had been working for World Relief for five years. In her practicum, Neonatal Mortality Rates: Causes and Strategies to reduce rates at Kibogora Hospital Zone in Rwanda, Kabadege evaluated the effectiveness of World Relief’s Child Survival Program. Based on her research, she developed recommendations to continue Rwanda’s progress in eliminating child mortality through promoting community mobilization strategies that would augment access to antenatal care, health insurance plans and facility deliveries.
  • Class of 2007 alumna Sivan Oun of Cambodia also investigated the effectiveness of World Relief’s Child Survival Program, known as “Light for Life.” Her practicum, Assessing Health Knowledge and Practices in Households for Childhood Pneumonia, monitored the impact of this program in the Chey Nikum and Chipaing Health Center catchment area in Ponhea Kriek-Dombe Operationa District and Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. A random sample of health centers in this area indicated that the program increased the percentage of mothers who correctly administered antibiotics to treat their children for pneumonia by 3.2%, and the program led to a death rate of zero in its last eight months of implementation.
  • Class of 2013 alumnus Pir Mohammad Paya of Afghanistan focused his practicum research on preventing child mortality among internally displaced communities in his home country. In his practicum, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Decision-Making Processes Regarding Children with Acute Respiratory Infection and Acute Diarrheal Disease in the Charahi Qamber Internal Displaced Population Camp, Paya proposed steps to build awareness campaigns about preventing and treating these common diseases in temporary settlements for the displaced. He also advocated for both mosque-based and woman-led public health educational initiatives as well as bolstering clinical care and access to clean drinking water.