Maternal and Child Health is one of Rotary International's Seven Areas of Focus. The Foundation Minute will begin this month by reminding us all of what the month means. Rotary International makes high quality healthcare available to vulnerable mothers and children so they can live longer and grow stronger. An estimated 5.9 million children under the age of 5 die each year because of malnutrition, inadequate healthcare, and poor sanitation which are all preventable.
This is where TRF comes in. As of 2018, the Foundation has spent over $8,000,000 in grants to projects aimed at improving the lives of mothers and children around the globe. TRF provides education, immunizations, birth kits and mobile health clinics. Women are taught how to prevent mother-to-infant HIV transmission, how to breast-feed and how to protect themselves and their children from disease. Over the past few years, TRF has contributed immensely to the overall healthcare of needy mothers and children from all regions of the planet. For example, Rotary Clubs in Japan and Brazil used a RF Global Grant to fund a lifesaving neonatal equipment. Not only that, in Poland, 26 children traumatized by violence got a chance to be kids again at a Rotary Camp where psychologists “mixed escape and therapy”. Generally, Rotary, through TRF, funds programs that improve women’s access to skilled health personnel: doctors, nurses, midwives or community healthcare workers.
