Gift for Life transforms lives
Grab a Jab helps to save a child’s life
Zakhira is a densely populated slum in Delhi where Asmati, her husband and four children live in a cramped one-room dwelling made of mud and plastic sheets. Her family income is meagre, and she finds it difficult to afford food.
This has had a detrimental effect on her children, especially her youngest, two-year-old Shahid. He was severely malnourished and vulnerable to disease, as he had not been immunised. Millions of children die every year of preventable disease before the age of five through poor health and a lack of immunisation.
TEAR Fund’s partner Asha, runs a community health programme in Zakhira and the health workers made sure that Shahid was immunised and fed until he reached normal weight. Thanks to Gift for Life’s Grab a Jab, Shahid is now a thriving, happy and playful little boy.
Nurture a Newborn
Cambodia was a country ravaged during Pol Pot’s reign of terror with the loss of professionals and the older generations. This has deeply impacted the development of this country.
TEAR Fund’s partner TASK in Cambodia, works in the worst slums in Phnom Penh to ensure the survival of the most at-risk women and children. The first 24 hours of life are the most vulnerable; accounting for the most deaths under five years of age in developing countries. TASK provides the funds to ensure that babies are born safely in a hospital and that the mothers receive pre and post natal care in their homes. Our Gift for Life item, Nurture a Newborn, ensures that babies and their mothers get the help they need through pregnancy, birth and beyond.
Bun Savan a 29-year-old mother, received the benefit of this care. Her home is just a lean-to dwelling close to a river in Mean Chey slum. The lean-to lacks protection from the elements. Bun Savan’s husband is a casual labourer and tries to find regular work, but it is hard to come by. They rent the land where they built their house.
TASK looks for the poorest pregnant women to take through maternity classes. The classes cover everything that these poor women need to know. Many are illiterate and uneducated. Bun Savan was taken through one of these classes. TEAR Fund, through its partner, has enabled Bun Savan’s baby girl, Thai Srey Neath, to reach one month old in good health, and she will continue to receive health checks and monitoring by trained Community Health Workers.
