We expand access to quality care, so mothers and children everywhere can have the same opportunities for a healthy future. In 2020, an estimated 5 million children under the age of 5 years died, mostly from preventable and treatable causes. Approximately half of those deaths, 2.4 million, occurred among newborns (in the first 28 days of life). The leading causes of death in children under 5 years can all be prevented or treated with access to affordable interventions in health and sanitation.
Our impact on the lives of mothers and children
The Rotary Foundation reaches mothers and children in need by giving communities the help and training they need to take control of their own maternal and infant health care.
“If mothers are empowered and healthy, so are their families, leading to an alleviation of poverty and hunger.” Robert Zinser, co-founder of the Rotarian Action Group for Population and Development and retired president for Asia at chemical giant BASF
Rotary makes amazing things happen, like:
Community health worker capacity building
Through the Rotary Healthy Communities Challenge, Rotary members are strengthening community health systems and increasing the capacity of community health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Zambia.
Cervical cancer prevention
In Sri Lanka, Rotary members collaborated with the ministry of health to support policy change and improve cervical cancer screening protocols. They advocated for HPV vaccination which is now part of the national immunization program.
Preventing diseases with vaccines
Rotary members are working to immunize 100,000 children across nine remote Pacific Islands by working with the local health system to create sustainable delivery of vaccines.
