Overview
People in the developing world face serious health challenges if they are living in extreme poverty. Drinking water is often too far away in rural areas and if it’s not clean, drinking the water puts people at risk for serious water-borne diseases. |
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Malnutrition lowers the immune system, making it easier to get sick. Without a basic education, people don’t know how to protect themselves from serious but preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS.
There is little hope for those who do get sick because most people can't afford to visit the doctor, or there is no doctor nearby.
Health problems affect children the most. The under-five child mortality rate is many times higher in developing countries than in other parts of the world.
Free The Children's Adopt a Village program improves health by providing communities with a source of clean drinking water. In total, Free The Children has shipped more than $15 million of medical supplies to developing countries, developed mobile health clinics for rural areas and community health education centres. Through health initiatives like these, communities have the energy to focus on growing stronger instead of fighting disease.
HIV/AIDS
The world's HIV/AIDS problem is called a pandemic because it's spreading across many regions at a rate that's out of control. In 2006 alone, 3.1 million people died from AIDS globally, including 380,000 children. An estimated 39.5 million people were living with the virus. 1 The problem is worst in sub-Saharan Africa , home to 64 per cent of the global total of people living with HIV.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic needs to be addressed right away in order to stop the spread of the disease. The disease is preventable and treatable, so a solution to the problem is within reach.
Anti-retroviral drugs are needed to treat people who are already infected, but people in developing countries can't afford these expensive drugs. Education is needed to teach people (especially women who are at greater risk of infection in developing countries) how to protect themselves from the disease.
Access to clean water
Contaminated drinking water is one of the major causes of health problems for people in developing countries and the leading cause of death in children. Two million children die each year from infections spread by dirty water or the lack of toilets. 2 Cholera, typhoid and dysentery are three of these diseases you might have heard of before.
In many developing countries, people must drink from the same water source where they bathe or take their animals to drink. A clean water project like a well or a rain barrel is a major step forward for communities that are struggling against poverty.
Quick facts
- Malaria (a serious disease spread by mosquitoes) acutely infects almost 300 million people each year and kills more than one million annually, with almost 90 per cent of all cases in sub-Saharan Africa. 3
- Every day, 8,000 people die of AIDS-related conditions. This is equal to about 3 million deaths per year. 4
- HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of premature mortality in sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth-biggest killer worldwide.
- In 2006 alone, 3.1 million people died from AIDS globally, including 380,000 children. An estimated 39.5 million people were living with the virus. 5
- Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10 per cent of the world's population, but it is home to 64 per cent of the global total of people living with HIV and 90 per cent of children (under 15) living with the virus. 6
- Two million children die each year from infections spread by dirty water or the lack of toilets. 7
- 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people lack access to proper sanitation facilities. 8
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What can I do to help?
Sing up to support Free The Children's Adopt a Village Clean Water campaign and raise funds at your school to build a clean water project in a community overseas. You'll raise awareness about health issues in the developing world and make a huge difference in the health of children and their families in the community you support. |
1. UNAIDS, "AIDS Epidemic Update, Dec 2006," http://data.unaids.org/pub/EpiReport/2006/2006_EpiUpdate_en.pdf (as accessed March 13, 2007)
2. United Nations, "Only With Your Voice - Millennium Development Goals Youth Action Guide" p.12, http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/atf/cf/%7BD15FF017-0467-419B-823E-D6659E0CCD39%7D/en_action_guide.pdf (as accessed March 14, 2007)
3. World Health Organization, "Millennium Development Goals: Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases," www.who.int/mdg/goals/goal6/en/index.html, as accessed June 25 2006.
4. World Health Organization, "Millennium Development Goals: Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases," www.who.int/mdg/goals/goal6/en/index.html, as accessed June 25 2006.
5. UNAIDS, "AIDS Epidemic Update, Dec 2006," http://data.unaids.org/pub/EpiReport/2006/2006_EpiUpdate_en.pdf, as accessed March 13, 2007.
6. United Nations, "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006", http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf, as accessed March 13, 2007. 7. United Nations, "Only With Your Voice - Millennium Development Goals Youth Action Guide" (p.12), http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/atf/cf/%7BD15FF017-0467-419B-823E-D6659E0CCD39%7D/en_action_guide.pdf, as accessed March 14, 2007.
8. United Nations, "Only With Your Voice - Millennium Development Goals Youth Action Guide" (p.12), http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/atf/cf/%7BD15FF017-0467-419B-823E-D6659E0CCD39%7D/en_action_guide.pdf, as accessed March 14, 2007. |
