About the Situation
By the Numbers
143 million children are orphaned by one or both parents worldwide
400 million children worldwide suffer from hunger
Probability of dying before age 5:
USA: 8 in 1,000
Mali: 217 in 1,000
Afghanistan: 257 in 1,000
(Sources: U.N., WHO and Save the Children)
In a world full of upheaval, children are the most vulnerable community members—vulnerable to hunger, to illness, to deprivation and to exploitation. The number of people living with hunger worldwide hit 1 billion in 2009, and nearly half of that figure represent children. Children are disproportionately affected by many illnesses, such as malaria, and in some countries, as many as one in four die before their fifth birthday. And for many children living in communities suffering deprivation, school is often a luxury—a situation that perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Improving children’s daily lives by safe-guarding them against illness; providing them with educational opportunities; and by giving them access to proper nutrition, water and sanitation services, can also provide a cushion that would help alleviate suffering in emergency situations. Perhaps most important, those basic resources can provide a world of hope to children—including 143 million orphans—for a prosperous future.
How the Children in Need Campaign Helps
For nearly two decades, Islamic Relief USATM has been working to improve the lives of children around the world. Areas of focus include emergency relief, orphan support, health and nutrition, water and sanitation.
Here are some of Islamic Relief’s current and recently completed Children in Need programs:
- Emergency relief: When human or natural disasters occur, Islamic Relief rushes to alleviate suffering. Immediate projects often include distribution of food, water and baby milk, as well as health-care services.
Sample program: During the early days of the crisis in Libya in 2011, Islamic Relief provided baby milk and medication to Libyan children in a state of critical need. - Education: Islamic Relief teams are building and equipping schools, holding literacy classes and training teachers around the world. Many of our education projects help young girls gain the skills needed to break free from the poverty trap—that, in turn, benefits the entire community and provides a gateway to greater achievements for generations to come. IRUSA is currently supporting more than a dozen education-related programs for children worldwide.
Sample program: Islamic Relief is rehabilitating schools, training teachers and providing books and toys to 40 kindergartens in the West Bank, Palestine, which will benefit more than 5,500 children, teachers and unskilled workers in marginalized and impoverished areas. - Orphans: To help children remain the care of loving relatives, this program helps guardians provide orphans with food, clothing and an education. Each year, donors sponsor between 7,000 and 8,500 orphans in 22 countries through IRUSA. With our global partner Islamic Relief Worldwide, the total number sponsored reaches 27,000 a year. Additional programs add supplemental education and vocational training.
Sample program: Al Shaheed Habibul Rahman Orphanage Center in Afghanistan, more than 250 orphans receive a comprehensive education in math, science, history, geography, Arabic, English, local languages and Islamic Studies, and participate in cultural programs and sports. - Health: By building new health centers, supplied with modern equipment, Islamic Relief is helping improve children’s access to health care in communities from Pakistan to Mali to Palestine and China. Nutrition programs—such as lunches distributed at Palestinian schools—also help children stay strong so they can learn, grow and resist illnesses.
Sample program: Teams built a rainwater system to supply drinking water and facilitate income generation in Haiyuan County, China. This project also improved crop irrigation and water conservation, benefiting 1,500 farmers and their community. - Malaria: Malaria kills nearly 1 million people each year, most of them African children. Islamic Relief is working to reduce the number of preventable deaths from this illness.
Sample program: Islamic Relief’s Bite the Bug campaign is working to save lives of more than 10,000 people in Mali by providing bed nets, health screenings and malaria treatments.
