Our supporters have achieved a lot for children in 2019. Here are some of the highlights.
More than 11,000 children were hit by flash flooding in refugee camps in Idlib, Syria displacing them yet again into miserable conditions. Thanks to Save the Children supporters thousands of impacted families received much-needed blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheeting and hygiene kits to help them recover. With our supporters help, we continued to help thousands of Syrian children throughout the year.
In February, with you by our side, we spoke out for the 420 million children trapped in conflict zones around the world, living through bombings, shootings, food shortages and a lack of basic services. We called on world governments to uphold the ten principles of the Charter to Stop the War on Children, protecting children from killing and maiming and ensuring schools are treated as zones of peace.
In March Cyclone Idai killed more than one thousand people and devastated the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands more in Mozambique. Thanks to your continuing support Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit was able to distribute essential supplies to children and their families immediately after the disaster.
Dozens of children were killed in attacks in Yemen and Syria in April. In Yemen our teams responded to an attack which destroyed a school, killing several students and leaving many badly injured. With your help we were able to treat injured children and help distraught parents find their loved ones.
In May we celebrated the incredible progress that has been made for children over Save the Children’s 100- year history. Thanks to you more children than ever are surviving past their fifth birthday, living healthy lives, safe from violence and free to learn and grow.
Children trapped in transit centres on the U.S.-Mexico border were able to play, learn and socialise thanks to our supporters around the world. Save the Children set up child-friendly spaces letting children be children and provided psychological and emotional support to children and their parents.
Thousands of pregnant women escaping a collapsing healthcare system in Venezuela have received urgent treatment at Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit clinic on the Colombian border. Thanks to our supporters around the world we were able to help these women and their newborn babies recover and grow.
We warned that over 80,000 children living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar experience severe distress without adequate support. Many have witnessed and endured atrocities that no child should ever have to face. With your help we have reached 745,000 Rohyingya refugees with critical psychological support.
One year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia two thirds of schools remain too dangerously damaged for children to return to classes. Thanks to you we continue to provide education to over 6,000 children who would otherwise miss out on essential schooling.
Following the withdrawal of US military troops from North East Syria, Save the Children supporters provided lifesaving aid to thousands of displaced families. We also warned of the severe risk to 9,000 children living in refugee camps in the region whose lives depend on a reliable supply of humanitarian aid.
Nearly 1 million children die each year from pneumonia. Pneumonia is the forgotten child killer, responsible for more deaths of children under five than any other disease, that’s two children every minute. Thanks to you Save the Children have been able to reach more children than ever with life-saving treatment helping them reach their fifth birthday.
You saved, educated, treated and empowered millions of children this year. We can only do the work we do for children with your support, thank you!