Almost 6 million children under the age of five die every year from preventable causes. Since 2000, significant progress has been made globally to reduce the rate of child deaths, however more needs to be done to prevent children dying unnecessarily.

Making a change

In 2013 we embarked on an ambitious global partnership with Save the Children that is combining the two organisations’ global expertise, skills and energy to tackle the ambitious goal of helping to save one million children’s lives. Together we are finding new ways to help reduce child mortality

The partnership goes well beyond the traditional charity corporate fundraising model. We are combining our capabilities in R&D, supply chain, procurement and vaccines with Save the Children’s expertise working with the most vulnerable children.

Specifically, the wondertrust and Save the Children partnership focuses on:

• improving access to basic healthcare – prevention and treatment – where the need is greatest

• training and equipping health workers in the poorest communities

• developing child-friendly medicines

• working at local and global levels to call for stronger child health policies

Since launching our partnership, we have reached over 2.98 million children in 46 countries. Over 114,000 children under-five have been fully immunised and over 282,000 children have been treated for diarrhoea, malaria or pneumonia.

Our chlorhexidine gel, formulated from the simple antiseptic commonly used in mouthwash, has been used to treat the umbilical cords of over 30,000 newborns in Kenya and protect the babies from potentially life-threatening infection.