Child Survival Program

Rescuing, nurturing and discipling little ones

Every day, 22,000 children under five die from causes that are mostly preventable—40 per cent of these deaths occur within the first month of life. For those who survive, the early years of life are critical as they set the foundations for a child’s future health and wellbeing.

Our Child Survival Program aims to reach the most vulnerable children and prevent premature death, secure good health and enable positive early child development. The program provides mothers, caregivers and pregnant mothers with pre-natal and post-natal care, learning opportunities and spiritual nurturing to help combat the problems that often affect a child in their first few years of life, like malnutrition, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria.

The Child Survival Program aims to positively change the lives of the child and their mother or caregiver through spiritual, economic, social, physical and emotional development. 

Child Survival Program outcomes for a child:

• Physical – Proves to be physically healthy
• Social/Emotional – Exhibits self-confidence and healthy relationships
• Cognitive – Demonstrates curiosity, interacts with their world and communicates experiences.

Child Survival Program outcomes for a mother/caregiver:

• Physical – Is sufficiently healthy to provide for the child’s wellbeing
• Social/Emotional – Exhibits self-confidence, healthy relationships and resilience to care for the child’s basic needs
• Cognitive – Exhibits motivation and skills to be economically self-supporting
• Spiritual – Demonstrates commitment to Jesus.

To achieve these outcomes, the Child Survival Program provides mothers and caregivers with:

• Education on how to provide a safe home environment
• Age-appropriate developmental opportunities to encourage their baby’s healthy growth
• Literacy and numeracy skills training
• Spiritual nurturing and the opportunity to hear and respond to Christian teaching

Many caregivers also receive support for vocational training and income-generating activities, to enable long-term provision for their family.

The Child Survival Program operates alongside Compassion's child development centres and children in this program often transition into the Child Sponsorship Program once they reach three years of age.

You can contribute to our Child Survival Program by:

• Making a once-only or recurring donation to the Child Survival Program – Donate Now
• Providing full support for an entire Child Survival Program in a specific country. Please contact us.