Mary Beth Powers, Vice-Chair of the EVERY ONE Campaign

I recently had the chance to travel to Guatemala to see firsthand the life saving work that is happening thanks to Save the Children's efforts. Now, I have done this kind of work for some 20 years - since I started as an intern looking at water and sanitation facilities for Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the mid 80s. But, luckily on the eve of this campaign, a group of people who had never traveled to see the kinds of places we work and the things we do went along with me.

I had to admit that the challenges that children face had become a bit common place to me... I was not surprised to see the dirt floors of the homes, the children suffering from infections, and the newborns laying with their mothers inside a smoky home that had a wood stove for cooking. So, it was good for me to be with a group that WAS in fact surprised, touched and shocked by the simplicity of living conditions and the many risks that life takes on in developing countries around the world.

One older man in the community left a big impression on the group as he explained that he had 8 children and only half had made it to adulthood. He shrugged his shoulders with a combination of woe and matter-of-factness that reminded me of the fatalism that we are trying to combat with this campaign. Three died from what sounded to be pneumonia based on his recollection. But he now knew, as he watched his daughter raise her children, it doesn't have to be that way.

We walked many kilometers along side community health workers who were visiting newborn babies and checking their health and that of their mothers. This simple act of post natal home visits and advice to new moms was identifying children who needed to go to the clinic, and helping moms practice simple behaviors that protected newborns who were doing well at home. While our group had some trouble on the muddy paths despite our appropriate hiking footwear, the health workers climbed seemingly effortlessly in plastic sandals and brilliant blouses and skirts that were customary for their ethnic group. We had to wonder how many miles they would walk to make sure a baby was okay...

The trip in the Ixia Triangle in Guatemala helped bring home again for me the fact that if we don't find ways to bring health care to the people, many of them will never get health care. That is why our community case management work to treat childhood infections is such an important innovation to promote for hard to reach communities. We expect these programs to expand to reach more children with life saving care and to influence governments to embrace new models of care to improve equity in health outcomes.