Health and Nutrition

As World Hope International works around the world to help alleviate poverty, suffering and injustice, the majority of vulnerable communities we serve face dire situations in the areas of health and nutrition. Below, please find details on some of WHI’s Health and Nutrition programs currently in action.

About 87% of the population in Papua New Guinea (PNG) live in rural areas where, due to the very rugged terrain, access to health care is very limited. Ranking at 154 on the Human Development Index, PNG is one of the least developed countries in the world, compared to Australia at two. With one doctor per 20,000 population, there is a significant need for more health workers, specifically in rural areas. 

Similar to other countries with a health worker crisis, five women die in childbirth every day in PNG, and 5.5% of children die before they turn two years-old. Many children suffer from malnutrition, pneumonia, and diarrhoea—and almost half of children under five are stunted. 

To address this dire need for health workers and health care, World Hope International is providing scholarships to medical and nursing students. $45 per month or $540 per year will help to support a student through their medical studies.

The Papua New Guinea National Department of Health estimate that least five women die in childbirth every day.

42% of women do not give birth at a health facility or hospital and 22% of pregnant women do not receive any formal antenatal care.

Training of Village Birth Attendants and putting sterile tools in their hands will improve the quality of healthcare for pregnant mothers and their babies.

Sierra Leone is ranked among the worst countries in the world for under-five mortality. Each year, 16 percent of Sierra Leonean children die before their fifth birthday. Of those 9,430 annual deaths, 19 percent occur during the first day of life.

To address these dire statistics, World Hope International, in partnership with The Children’s Prize, is implementing the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) educational program in five districts in Sierra Leone. The program is expected to save 5,336 young lives in the country over the course of two years.

Health program specialist, Carrie Jo Cain, is currently training the HBB curriculum to over 2,000 Maternal Child Health aides and Traditional Birth Attendants to properly provide neonatal care at health facilities as well as in home and in community settings.

In addition to our HBB program, WHI has partnered with UNICEF to work with local communities in villages across Sierra Leone to form Mother’s Support Groups. These groups promote child nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, infant and child care and health education. Specifically, mothers are empowered to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth, breastfeed exclusively for the first six months and continue to breastfeed for up to two years or more together with nutritionally adequate, safe, age appropriate, responsive complementary feeding starting at six months.

World Hope International and UNICEF are also currently working with this tight network of Mother’s Support Groups to help prevent the spread of Ebola. Trained and supervised Community Health Workers are conducting outreach to these mother’s groups, educating them on the signs and symptoms of the disease, including facts on its prevention and information on universal precaution to ensure infection control.

Finally, WHI, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, is also using ambulances to help transport mothers to the hospital to deliver.