For every 1,000 children born in Vanuatu, 27 will die before the age of 5, close to half of these before the age of one month. This means that a child born in Vanuatu is more than seven times more likely to die before they reach school than one born in Australia. Many of these deaths are preventable with access to high quality medical care, especially in the first few days of life.

In 2019 the Melanie Jewson Foundation will be working in partnership with the paediatrics department at Vila Central Hospital. By donating much needed equipment, we hope to do our bit to help stop the preventable death of children under the age of five.  Our process of donation is collaborative and needs based, which means we work hard to ensure all donated equipment is high quality, useful and sustainable.

Stay tuned for more details of equipment that will be donated this year. Please, donate today to support our work.

To read more about child mortality in the pacific region, click here.