Humanitarians in Action
On this World Humanitarian Day, hear from our staff who do life-saving work for children around the world.
On World Humanitarian Day, we recognize the people that respond first when disaster strikes. Our staff and local partners work to ensure the safety of children in the hardest-to-reach communities, despite often facing the same crises to which they respond.
Continue scrolling to learn how our humanitarian workers serve children around the world.
Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, the lines of conflict continue to stretch for thousands of miles. The reported scale of destruction is utterly shocking with some cities totally devastated.
Our humanitarian leaders and 27 partners are providing life-saving assistance such as food, cash transfers and safe spaces, ensuring children and families impacted by this crisis have the support they need.
Save the Children's Olga Shults was one of an estimated 350,000 residents who escaped Mariupol in 2022.
I remember the night when our street was shelled for the first time - a house 100 meters away burnt to ashes. We never knew if people were still there. But we realized we had to escape and save ourselves no matter what.
After leaving her hometown, Olga felt called to serve her country through humanitarian work. Now, she is focused on launching an initiative in southern Ukraine with Save the Children that will support the economic recovery of war-torn communities.
Türkiye
Six months ago, devastating earthquakes affected nearly 18 million people in Türkiye and Syria, including 6.2 million children.
To support children's well-being in the wake of this crisis, we've distributed thousands of hygiene and dignity kits along with other essential items for families who need us most.
Our staff member, Ozlem, is leading the distribution of hygiene kits and other essential items to earthquake-impacted families in Türkiye. So far, we've been able to reach over 144,000 people with temporary shelter and distributions.
I feel incredibly happy and grateful that I am out in the field making a difference.
Save the Children staff were some of the first to respond to the initial earthquakes in Türkiye, distributing hot meals within the first 12 hours. Despite being impacted by the earthquakes themselves, they strived to help the children and families who needed us most.
Haiti
In Haiti, civil unrest, conflict and high rates of poverty has resulted in 40% of the population being incredibly food insecure.
In response, we’ve set up Infant and Young Child Feeding Centers and Mother/Baby Areas to encourage early nutrition and provide pregnant and nursing moms the support they need to give their children the best.
Stephanie is an emergency nutrition coordinator for Save the Children. She provides education to pregnant women and mothers on early breastfeeding and child food schedules. She also does screenings to identify children with malnutrition and refers them to health care facilities for treatment.
In emergency situations, nutrition is often neglected because people do not consider it their first priority.
Stephanie helps mothers like Guivencia learn about the nutritional benefits of breastfeeding. Thanks to humanitarian workers like Stephanie, Guivencia's baby is now at a healthy weight and she feels empowered by our staff.
Afghanistan
Save the Children has been working in Afghanistan since 1976, but the scale of the current crisis is like nothing we have ever seen before. In 2023, one in three Afghans will face emergency levels of hunger.
Despite the severity of the crisis, our staff are still providing health and nutrition services to those most vulnerable in Afghanistan.
Ahmad* is a nurse with Save the Children’s Mobile Health Team. He screens children for malnutrition in remote communities and provides life-saving ready-to-use therapeutic food to those at risk.
Ahmad shared that the number of children he sees in our health facilities with malnutrition has risen by 50% since he started in 2021. An estimated 3.2 million children under 5 years old in Afghanistan are facing acute malnutrition.
Life is exceptionally hard in Afghanistan – but we need to remember the precious joy in the changes we can make and the profound impact this has on human lives. If we can do that, we can keep going for the children of tomorrow.
Thanks to staff members like Ahmad, we've been able to reach the most remote families with life-saving health care and support.
*Name changed to protect identity
Help Support Our Humanitarian Work
The Children’s Emergency Fund allows Save the Children to pool resources before emergencies happen, ensuring that we can anticipate, plan, prepare for and deliver high-quality humanitarian responses for children and communities.
Thank a humanitarian for their life-saving efforts by giving to the Children's Emergency Fund today.
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