The Problem

This baby in Bolivia is suffering from pneumonia.

More than 11,000,000 children under the age of five die every year worldwide from diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and malnutrition. Seven out of every 10 childhood deaths worldwide are due to these five diseases and conditions. What is most shocking is that these diseases can be easily treated or prevented.

Most of these children come from poverty stricken communities and countries unable to provide adequate health care for those most vulnerable. Often when children are brought to a clinic or hospital for treatment, they suffer from more than one of these diseases or conditions. In other cases local health care professionals have been inadequately trained to properly diagnose and treat these illnesses.