Health Care, Water and Sanitation

Free The Children is committed to helping communities become self-sufficient and meet their basic health care needs. We support a number of health care projects which allow families to lead healthy and productive lives. • Health and Family Education • Community Health Centers • Medical Supplies • Water and Sanitation • Rehabilitation Centers

To date we have shipped more than $15 million US in essential medical supplies and built health care clinics in Asia, Latin America and Africa, benefiting more than 512,500 people.

Free The Children continues to develop these projects, and support the families and communities who need our help. Often, these projects go hand in hand with schoolbuilding, helping them put the infrastructure in place to support their community’s educational needs.

Find out how the program is helping children in the slums of India in our Health Care Story: Community-Based Rehabilitation Training for Disabled Children in Trichy Slums

Health and Family Education Free The Children believes that education is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy way of life. Many of the diseases that plague children and their families in the developing world are preventable and treatable. This is why we promote health and family life education in our schools and in the communities in which we work.

Classes and workshops designed for local audiences are conducted on topics including:

• Basic hygiene
• Proper disposal of waste
• Sanitation

Many of our programs focus on the prevention of diarrheal diseases – including cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever – which are one of the main causes of infant mortality in impoverished communities. According to the World Health Organization, diarrheal diseases claim the lives of roughly 2 million children annually. Our health education programs go a long way in helping families lead healthy and productive lives.
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Community Health Clinics A major health care challenge for rural areas of the developing world is a lack of access to medical facilities. Because clinics are located in cities people living in outlying areas need to walk great distances in order to get treated for various life-threatening ailments. In many cases, travel is not possible, and people don’t get the basic health care they need. In an effort to provide complete health care services in remote communities, Free The Children trains community health workers and builds and outfits health clinics. These centers provide primary health care services, community health workshops, medical referrals, and basic pharmaceutical services, helping to reduce the occurrence of preventable diseases.

An example of our efforts, Free The Children built a medical learning center in the Santa Rosa community, Chimborazo Province, Ecuador, that focuses on indigenous medicinal practices. There, local students, teachers and groups are taught to identify, organically grow and use specific plants as healing remedies in the ancient tradition of Andean medicine in essence.

This initiative empowers community members by enabling them to help children suffering from disorders of the respiratory and digestive systems. Caused primarily by poverty, these disorders can all be treated through the effective use of indigenous medical plants.
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Medical Supplies In addition to constructing health centers and providing health education, Free The Children also ships vital medical supplies to children and their families in disadvantaged communities. Essential medical supplies such as antibiotics, syringes, bandages and wheelchairs are often taken for granted by people in developed countries. However, the same products are considered unobtainable luxuries by those who live in the difficult circumstances of developing nations.

Recognizing the utmost importance of a child’s health, Free The Children has shipped more than $11 million US in medical supplies to impoverished children. These supplies have directly benefited more than 505,000 people in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
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Water and Sanitation Free The Children Healthcare, Water, and Sanitation program improves the quality of life for women and children in remote and marginalized communities. Our water and sanitation projects have benefited more than 138,000 people. Every year, waterborne diseases kill 1.5 million people worldwide, the majority of whom are children, and millions more are living without proper access to basic healthcare. We are dedicated to improving the health and quality of life for these families. In this effort, our projects help to improve the health of communities, and allow more children, especially girls, to attend school. [top]

Rehabilitation Centers

Free The Children has developed a number of rehabilitation projects which cater to the needs of children afflicted with various disabilities. By providing physically and mentally challenged children with the opportunity to receive special training, these programs allow challenged children to become involved and valued members of their communities. Free The Children has two such programs established in southern India.

Health Care Story: Community-Based Rehabilitation Training for Disabled Children in Trichy Slums, India

A majority of children in the slums of Trichy suffer from both mental and physical disabilities, due to a variety of environmental and poverty-related factors. As part of Free The Children’s rehabilitation programs, disabled children receive education and career training from qualified rehabilitation workers. Programs are tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of each young person, with the goal of allowing them to participate in formal schooling, or providing them with the necessary skills and career training to be productive members of their communities. In addition, workshops are held for the parents of disabled youth to help them better provide for and meet the needs of their children.

Community sensitization to the rights and needs of disabled children is also an important aspect of rehabilitation. Volunteers in the Trichy slums are therefore trained in rehabilitation sciences, creating a larger group of people who can respond to and meet the needs of the disabled.

More than 75 young people, as well as their parents, have been impacted by Free The Children’s rehabilitation programs in Madras, India. Due to its success, plans are underway to enlarge and replicate the program in other villages in southern India.

Health Care Story: Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children in Kakur Village, India

In Kakur Village, outside Trichy District, India, Free The Children has established a live-in rehabilitation center for disabled children who have been abandoned. This center provides complete care and education for 25 physically and mentally challenged children. Many of these children have been successfully integrated into formal schooling and are adapting well.

Child Labour Rehabilitation and Resource Centers

Free The Children has built two live-in rehabilitation centers in India to provide rehabilitation services to children rescued from child trafficking rings and exploitative labour situations. Many of these children have been either trafficked as camel jockeys or sex slaves. The centers are capable of providing rehabilitative services, including complete care and education, to 100 children at any given time. Children are then reintegrated into their families and communities (as deemed appropriate).

Through the efforts of Free The Children and its members’ dedication to stopping child labour, over 77,300 child labourers have been freed and rehabilitated from exploitative and dangerous labour conditions.
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Water and Sanitation

$100 can help build latrines at a school
$500 can support community workshops on clean water and sanitation
$1,000 can help support clean drinking water systems at schools

Suggested donation amounts represent a significant contribution towards stated projects. Funds donated to Water and Sanitation programming will be used to support projects in this category based on greatest need.

Healthcare:

$50 can help purchase medical supplies for community health clinics
$100 can help purchase sports equipment for a school
$250 can help plant a community garden
$500 can help provide a nutritious lunch program at a school
$1,000 can help support healthcare and awareness workshops

Suggested donation amounts represent a significant contribution towards stated projects. Funds donated to Health programming will be used to support projects in this category based on greatest need.

Disclaimer:
The above represents the average costs of Free The Children projects in the communities in which we work. In cases where donations exceed what is needed or local conditions prevent program implementation, Free The Children will redirect funds to similar activities to help people in need. If additional funding is required because of specific project requirements or challenging local conditions, Free The Children may provide additional funding to complete the project to meet our commitment to our beneficiaries.