Funding Cuts Deprive Hard-to-Reach Children of Essential Health Care
UNICEF-supported community health workers bring critical health services to the world's hardest-to-reach children. Now the global foreign aid funding crisis is cutting off families with nowhere to turn.
It's 30 minutes by boat from Rubkona, in the Great Upper Nile region of South Sudan, to Tong island. Tong wasn't always an island, but years of historic rains have submerged surrounding farmlands, homes and roads, creating a vast floodplain.
Until recently, the primary health facility in Tong served up to 25 pregnant women a day and provided the community's children with health care and immunizations.
The health facility's doors are padlocked now, a consequence of recent funding cuts.
We need the system to come to the children, not to ask the children to come to the system ... Without these services, children will suffer and children may die. — Noala Skinner, UNICEF South Sudan Representative
Peter, a UNICEF-supported Boma health worker, travels regularly to the island to provide basic health care for children. But community health workers can’t work in isolation. They need a functioning primary health care and referral system.
"We need personalized services for children, we need the system to come to the children, not to ask the children to come to the system," says Noala Skinner, UNICEF South Sudan Representative. "People like Peter provide a lifeline. Without these services, children will suffer and children may die."
Learn more about how UNICEF-supported community health workers help vulnerable children worldwide
Video: Community health workers are a vital resource for children in South Sudan
UNICEF strengthens and scales community health systems around the world
With funding cuts, nearly half a million community health worker jobs are on the line across Africa. The full impact of this shutdown is still unfolding.
Investing in community health is a cost-effective approach to health care. Working across sectors, UNICEF builds country-driven, resilient community health systems that are supported by well-trained community health workers. UNICEF strengthens and scales up community health systems to deliver comprehensive care to remote communities and respond to humanitarian crises around the world.
Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance.
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
