We’ve likely all had an experience of life changing in an instant. Maybe it was the birth of a first child, the unexpected loss of a loved one, or bad news about a job. Whatever it was, life was irrevocably altered after.

For millions of refugees, the life-changing experience might involve armed conflict, a natural disaster, or persecution. And it can propel them into uncertain and dangerous places, with few options to build better futures.

Water from a rusted pipe flows down through the grass to a nearby swamp, leaving a trail of orange sediment. “That is the iron in the water. It has rusted the pipe and turned the grass and soil orange,” says Humphrey, a World Vision WASH officer.

“The water in the ground is bad! You cannot drink it, clean with it or even use it for agriculture,” Francis, the chairperson of the Tusinbude household cluster explains as community members sigh in agreement.

Grandson Brian at the new tippy-tap

When Florence got married in the 1980’s, her new home didn’t have a latrine. Though she had come from a home with one, she never asked her husband about it. For over 30 years, Florence, now 73, lived without a latrine in her home. Her family suffered a life of constant diarrhea and vomiting. The community in which they settled didn’t do much to help change their mindset, as most homes also didn’t have latrines.

Early last year, World Vision shared its Community-Led Total Sanitation model (CLTS), inspiring the members of Kamiga Village in the Nakasongola district to reflect on their health situation.

Florence & her second born using the tippy-tap

No one knows better than Florence how the benefits of having community health workers in her village can be life changing. Last year, Nyakabale was far from being a model village. As with most communities where open defecation exists, Nyakabale had extremely low standards of hygiene and sanitation. Through World Vision, volunteer community health workers (CHW) were trained to help teach people about the benefits of living in a clean environment, free of disease and waste. The CHWs help parents learn how to prevent common illnesses like diarrhea through better hygiene practices.

CHWs, ttC, 7-11, PDH. These aren’t just your ordinary acronyms. They stand for the very simple, very powerful approaches World Vision is using to strengthen health care systems and save the lives of moms and their babies. In honor of World Health Day, we invite you to learn what they are and how have they delivered double-digit improvements in just two years.

Wilson is conducting one of his training sessions with Grace during her 5th pregnancy.

At the age of 67, Wilson Masiga might consider slowing down and enjoying his seven children and forty grandchildren. Instead, Wilson still rides about 10km every day on a bicycle, traversing villages in Busia District, eastern Uganda, carrying the message of good health.  

Wilson is one of the Community Health Workers (CHW) in this area. He has served in this role since 2011, after he and others were selected by the local leadership and community members. They were trained by the district health inspector, followed by additional training by World Vision in 2012. “We were trained in malaria control, nutrition and child protection, among others. World Vision has continued to give us refresher training along the way, reminding us that we are the first ‘health centers’ to help our communities,” says Wilson. 

Nearly half of all child deaths under the age of five occur within the first month of their lives*, despite marked improvement over the past 30 years. That’s about 2.6 million babies a year. More than 7,100 a day.

World Vision is committed to decreasing preventable neonatal and maternal mortality, and our mother and child health initiative is already making real and sustainable impact in Somalia, Uganda, and Zambia. The approach is working for three main reasons: it’s targeted, it’s grass-roots, and it’s integrated. In a nutshell, we focus on educating women, delivering basic health and nutrition information through trusted local health workers, enabling access to essential health services, and improving health facilities.

On World Health Day, we celebrate the progress being made and the donors and partners who make it possible for the work to continue.

Little Isaac came into this world with the odds stacked against him. 

His mother died the day after he was born. He was so small people were afraid to touch him, let alone take him in as one of their own. Most of the people in his Ugandan village thought he would almost certainly die.

Thankfully, Josephine was not afraid. This 47-year-old mother was touched by the tiny, fragile infant and decided to bring him into her home. Her children wanted him too, especially her sons David and Samuel.