MISSION STATEMENT

In developing countries, there are almost 800 pregnancy-related deaths every hour.  Most of these tragedies are easily preventable with basic nutrition and access to healthcare.

Our Mission is to reduce maternal, prenatal and neonatal deaths in developing countries by donating food and healthcare to those who genuinely need it to survive.

 

2 COR 8:14 – “Now at this time your abundance can supply their need…that there may be equality.”

PROBLEM #1:  More than 3,000,000 babies die every year in developing countries from treatable and preventable causes. 

Due to the extremely high rate of malnutrition among pregnant women in developing countries, unborn babies lack the vital nutrients they need to develop a strong little body. This causes the child to start life at greatly disadvantaged with a critically low immune system. In a weak and vulnerable state, a child’s little body is powerless to fight off simple problems such as infections, diarrhea or even just a minor injury.

PROBLEM #2:  In poverty, even the most basic treatments are financially unattainable.

Although such illness is easily treatable, in many cases it becomes fatal for the poor child as the mother cannot afford the simplest treatment, even when her baby’s life depends on it.  When living in poor conditions, even a scratch can take the life of a newborn child as it can quickly develop into a life-threatening infection.  In this scenario, a basic remedy as simple as a band-aid or ointment is an unaffordable luxury item. 

SOLUTION:  Provide the basic yet essential and life-saving needs of newborn babies and children in poverty.

In the Program ‘Locate & Help’ Little Hearts Fund conducts and extensive search-and-rescue-style campaign to find pregnant women in poverty for the purpose of enrolling them in Healthcare and providing them with food and other essential needs. During that campaign LHF also seeks to find children under-5 with immediate health concerns so as to provide their essential needs.

Providing essential needs for children under 5 (especially newborns) is one of the quickest and easiest ways to stop preventable deaths, due to the fact that approximately 75% of all under-5 deaths occur within the first year of life. This life-saving program is especially urgent in Southeast Asia as it experiences more neonatal (newborn) deaths than all of the Americas, Europe, and Western Pacific combined. 

Newborn babies and young children are the most precious and innocent people on our planet, absolutely deserving of our care. “True justice is when you defend those least able to defend themselves.”

$32 Buys a ‘Newborn Essentials Kit’ for a baby in poverty.

Babies born into poverty have nothing, often not even a blanket to cover them on a cold night. In their weak and vulnerable state, having their needs met is essential when being introduced into the world. The newborn essentials kit includes the basics required to care for a newborn baby’s health and hygiene. Please donate at least one to a baby born into poverty.

Donate $32

$18 Buys Life-saving Medication For a Sick Child 

In worst-case-scenarios medication is required when treating a child with a serious and immediate health concern. In such cases –if funds are available- we provide life-saving medication. The typical cost of medication necessary to save one child’s life is usually not less than $18.

Donate $18

PROBLEM #1:  Healthcare coverage during pregnancy is vital, yet unaffordable for women in poverty, claiming millions of lives every year.

PROBLEM #2:  Most impoverished women have no registered address, making it difficult to locate and help them.

In Southeast Asia, it’s easy to see pregnant women begging for food and coins on the street, but finding all impoverished pregnant women is very difficult. Impoverished people typically do not have a registered address and therefore tend to wander and sleep in a variety of areas including stairways, under bridges, behind buildings or along sidewalks and roads where they have access to beg passing traffic.

For impoverished women who do have a fixed location, it’s typically a make-shift hut in a slum, without a registered address. Such factors make locating and helping poor women very difficult.

SOLUTION:  Thoroughly search each province to locate and enroll every poor pregnant woman in healthcare.

$8 to Locate And Process a poor pregnant woman for Healthcare

In areas where pregnancy-related death rates are among the highest in the world, every woman enrolled is potentially another two lives saved. Our search parties go out in groups of 2 for security, searching areas where the poor typically reside such as slums and abandoned areas. On average every $8 equates to another poor pregnant woman found.

Donate $8

$92 provides a pregnant woman with Healthcare coverage for 1 Year

Every $92 provides Healthcare coverage for an expectant mother during the entire phase of her pregnancy. This enables her to receive Antenatal care which is vital for the health of both herself and her unborn child.

Donate $92

PROBLEM #1:  Millions of pregnant women are suffering from malnutrition with no access to proper food.

PROBLEM #2:  Malnutrition causes millions of maternal deaths every year.

A malnourished mother is exposed to high risk of maternal death due to a variety of reasons. For one, malnutrition causes her immune system to drop to critically low levels, exposing her to a range of life-threatening sicknesses, resulting in extreme weakness. Strength, endurance and vitality are all needed to give a successful birth without medical intervention, especially during a complicated delivery. Unfortunately though -for millions of impoverished pregnant women each year- their state of malnutrition results in their death either before, during or shortly after giving birth.

PROBLEM #3:  Malnutrition causes millions of prenatal and neonatal deaths every year.

The body of a malnourished mother wreaks havoc on her baby struggling to grow and develop in her womb. An irregular flow of nutrients makes way for an array of serious life-threatening birth defects including sickness, prematurity, low birth-weight, physical deformities and ultimately, miscarriage or stillbirth. For babies who miraculously survive delivery in these poor conditions, more than 44% die within the first 28 days of life.

PROBLEM #4:  Donating money to poor people is ineffective for preventing malnutrition.

Money donated to the Little Hearts Fund is closely monitored and spent on the exact purpose it was donated for. All donations toward LHF’s Program ‘Provide Sustenance’ go toward providing impoverished pregnant women with a stable nutritious diet in order to nourish the growth and development of her unborn child.

For this reason, cash cannot simply be given to poor people with instructions to strictly only shop for nutritional food, as studies reveal that monetary donations directly into the hands of poor people are very rarely spent in the best ways.

The reason is that people living in poverty have a long list of things they desperately want and need to buy. Unfortunately, nutritious food is rarely at the top of that list. In addition to this, the responsibility of spending the donation on nutrition cannot fairly be delegated to pregnant women living in poverty due to external influences.

Women in Southeast Asia are typically vulnerable to having money taken from them by their partner, family members or even thieves. Clearly, the guarantee of precise money management does not exist, therefore, handing money directly to poor pregnant women in Southeast Asia will most-likely result in an unacceptably low success-rate.

SOLUTION:  Donations go toward purchasing and hand-delivering groceries to every woman living in poverty.

Summary: LHF prevents malnutrition in pregnant women and babies by hand-delivering:

1) Nutritional Groceries – scheduled once per week, every week.

2) RUTF – specific to pregnant women, minimizing her risk of theft.

3) Supplements – Included in the grocery box are a range of select supplements vital to a healthy pregnancy.

$23 Buys Groceries for an Entire Week

Every $23 donated funds the delivery of healthy groceries to a pregnant woman in poverty for an entire week. These essential foods nourish the mother’s body and fuel the development of her baby growing in her womb. The box includes fruits, vegetables,tins of tuna and salmon, and RUTF (Ready-to-eat Therapeutic Foods).

Donate $23

$21 Supplements a Malnourished Pregnant Woman 

When we locate pregnant women in poor health we provide supplementation required to bring her back to stable condition, also beneficial to the development of her unborn child. The average cost of is around $21 subject to how badly neglected her health is. Each treatment is handled uniquely on a case-by-case basis.

Donate $21

PROBLEM #1:  The cost of a Midwife and/or Doctor is unaffordable for poor people in Developing Countries.

PROBLEM #2:  When Doctors are inaccessible during complicated deliveries, fatalities occur.

When medical intervention is required, lack of access to a Doctor results in almost certain death for either the mother or her baby, or both. Even for successful natural deliveries by malnourished women, life-threatening risks (such as critical weakness) are still a serious factor. In these situations and more, timely medical intervention is often critical to their survival.

SOLUTION:  LHF finances pregnancy-related medical interventions to avoid preventable deaths.

1) Natural deliveries

2) Complicated deliveries

3) New mothers in critical condition

$25 Provides a Midwife For One Desperate Mother In Poverty

The availability of a midwife and clean birthing kit during delivery is absolutely critical to the health of both mother and child. Unfortunately for pregnant women in poverty, a midwife is an unaffordable luxury.  Please fund a midwife and clean birthing kit so a new mother and child can have a fresh start.

Donate $25

$270 Funds Medical Interventions for Complicated Deliveries

When emergencies arise we utilize donations to fund medical interventions. Every year hundreds of thousands of new mothers in poverty died due to having a complicated delivery without a Doctor present. Most of these tragic deaths can be prevented with medical attention.

Donate $270

$180 Provides Life Support for Newborn Babies In Critical Condition

Donations made here go toward providing vital postnatal care for newborn babies in unstable health conditions. The most dangerous time in a baby’s life is the first month. More than 2,655,000 babies died last year during their first 28 days of life.  These precious lives can be saved if funds are available. 

Donate $180