Child Life Foundation

The ChildLife Story Infectious diseases and preventable conditions claim the lives of hundreds of children in low-income countries. UNICEF** reports Pakistan under-five mortality rate (U5MR) as 74 deaths/1000 live births. The leading causes of death among children under the age of five are preterm birth complications, pneumonia, diarrhea, birth asphyxia and malaria and most of these deaths can be prevented by simple, low-cost interventions. ***92,000 children die of pneumonia every year in Pakistan, the illness accounts for 16% of total child deaths in the country. Taking a sick child to a hospital or a clinic is a task in itself. Logistics, finances and lack of awareness work against the patient and most children end up being ‘treated’, if they ever do, by quacks or unqualified doctors in their area. Good medical facilities with competent staff are few, distant, and financially unaffordable. Little wonder then that for every thousand babies born in Pakistan, 75 die before their fifth birthday*, dying due to causes as mundane as diarrhea, pneumonia or some vaccine-preventable disease. It’s under these circumstances that the ChildLife Foundation comes in with the mission to provide every child with quality and affordable healthcare facilities. With cutting-edge systems and the newest healthcare innovations adapted for use in low-income settings, ChildLife has quietly been bringing about a revolution in the communities it has touched. Seeking out communities which have been untouched by healthcare services, overlooked by the public sector and unable to access private care, ChildLife is providing the full spectrum of medical care, from emergency rooms, to primary clinics, down to preventive practices. The Foundation has 11 state-of-the-art model emergency rooms in Pakistan in: Civil Hospital, National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Sindh Government Hospital Korangi-5, Lyari General Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi; Peoples Medical College Hospital (Nawabshah), Chandka Medical College Hospital (Larkana); Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College Hospital (Sukkur); Sandeman Provincial Hospital (Quetta); Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (Hyderabad); and Mayo Hospital (Lahore). ChildLife Foundation also runs 30 primary care clinics in Karachi’s slum area, in partnership with Sina Foundation. Furthermore, it also runs a Preventive Healthcare Program that has reached over 190,000 families so far. All of these services parallel the best private medical facilities that the country has to offer, with the technology used in many cases far superior. *Source:Asian Development Bank **Source: data.unicef.org/country/pak ***Source: gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan Our Vision Child-Safe Pakistan Children in Pakistan at an imminent risk of life will have access to quality care. Our Mission Saving the Future of Pakistan Facilitate rapid access to quality urgent medical care Identify high risk children: Malnourished Unimmunized Poor access to basic health Intervene with established cost-effective preventive measures. Our Values Teamwork Competence Compliance Compassion Humility Road-Map Children’s Emergency Rooms- All public teaching hospitals Telemedicine Satellite Centers- All public secondary care hospitals Preventive Health Program-All under 5 population