Under-five child morbidity and mortality from preventable diseases reduced

A healthy start in life is critical to ensure that children can grow up to be productive members of society – and healthy beginnings are rooted in homes and communities. In partnership with the government, Save the Children focuses on strengthening health information and services in communities. This includes capacitating community health workers, the provision of mobile health services, and the training of Community Health Committees to manage their own response to health concerns and monitoring the quality and inclusiveness of services provided by the national health system.

Save the Children supports the training of community health workers in Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) to ensure the effective diagnosis and treatment of malaria, diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, and acute malnutrition in children under five. We also support mobile health brigades (which includes SRH) to provide more comprehensive services in remote communities and in emergency settings, as well as strengthening the services at health facilities through the training of clinicians, particularly maternal child health nurses, who are critical for providing prevention and treatment services for women and children. To ensure disability-inclusion, we coordinate with organisations of persons with disabilities and other key disability actors to build the capacities of health care providers on disability inclusive practices.

For nutrition, we take a life stages approach to tackle the underlying causes of intergenerational child malnutrition, with a focus on improving the nutrition of women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, and children under-two. Interventions include the promotion of Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and optimal WASH practices, and the improved health and nutrition of adolescent girls.

Safeguarding the good health of the next generation requires a dedicated effort to ensure that adolescent girls are empowered and resourced to take good decisions about their health, education and general welfare. In this regard, Save the Children focuses on the reduction of adolescent pregnancies and the promotion of girls’ empowerment, including the provision of quality SRH and life skills information through community and school-based activities such as sports and clubs. In partnership with the government and community based organisations, we support the training health care providers in adolescent and youth-friendly approaches, and implementing mobile SRH services in communities and schools. To ensure girls have a supportive environment, we implement inclusive social behavior change communication (SBCC) campaigns which target the most marginalised and hard-to-reach communities, engaging parents, initiation rites providers, community and religious leaders, and others, challenging harmful taboos and myths and promoting girls rights.