cv1096trujilD4_xt1_cmmbcavaLRToday, April 7th is World Health Day, a global awareness day sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) to focus attention on vital global health issues. The day is celebrated every year on April 7th, which marks the founding of the WHO in 1948. This year’s World Health Day highlights the importance of food safety, and calls for “adequate, safe, nutritious food for everyone.”

Unsafe food can trigger a range of serious public health threats, including diarrheal disease, viral disease, and even some cancers. Foodborne and waterborne diarrheal diseases kill an estimated 2 million people annually, strain healthcare systems, and burden national economies, especially in the poorest countries.

CMMB’s mission is to work in partnership globally to deliver sustainable, quality health care to women, children, and their communities. We work in some of the world’s poorest places, where reliable access to safe and nutritious food and clean water are daily worries for families. We join WHO and our peers in the global health community today in encouraging the public, government leaders, and the private sector to increase global commitments to improving food safety, food security, and nutrition and access to healthcare for the world’s most vulnerable people.

CMMB has launched a new Children and Mothers Partnership (CHAMPS) initiative at specific sites in Haiti, Kenya, Peru, South Sudan, and Zambia to save the lives of mothers and children by targeting the leading causes of illness and death, many of which can be linked to food and waterborne diseases.

In Peru, CMMB’s health and nutrition programs have reduced rates of anemia among children through community-delivered dietary supplements.

20141106s_haiti_cava_cmmb_d2_1416_xt1In Haiti, our integrated health and economic empowerment program, “Goats and Gardens,” provides families with goats and animal husbandry training to provide them with a source of income, and helps them grow and maintain home gardens to improve household food security and nutrition. In South Sudan, CMMB is working with partners to improve the quality of water by installing new storage and distribution systems for clean water. CMMB’s health programs in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean are improving lives.

In 2014, CMMB provided health services to over 500,000 people, and delivered pharmaceutical donations worth over $350 million dollars to local health systems in the world’s least developed countries. None of this would be possible without the incredible support of the CMMB community. Thank you for being our partner in building change.