Doctors of the World campaign invites donors to make a child cry – to save her life
Howard Lake | 13 July 2015 | News
Making a child cry is hardly a charitable act. But that is the striking invitation in Doctors of the World’s new fundraising campaign, ‘Make a Child Cry’.
Of course, the campaign is aimed to raise awareness of the large number of children who are excluded from essential healthcare, and to support the charity’s work in reaching them. In this sense, you can make a child cry in order to save their life.
DOTW explain:
“Children often cry at the doctor’s. Big needles and mask-wearing medics are scary. But what’s more scary is that a child dies every seven seconds from lack of care”.
Going to the doctor’s might make some children cry, but if they don’t go the results are far worse. According to the charity, four million children under five die each year from conditions such as measles, polio, diphtheria or diarrhoea that could easily be prevented by a simple treatment or vaccination.
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqsnT844YgA[/youtube]
Dr Chris Van Tulleken, infectious diseases expert, TV presenter and DOTW trustee, commented on the Make a Child Cry campaign:
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“Humanitarianism involves hard choices but making children cry when we treat them is not a hard choice. In fact it may be the easiest decisions that an aid worker makes… and one of the most important.”
The need is global, especially given the current economic crisis. An estimated 27 million children are already at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Europe alone.
Leigh Daynes, executive director of Doctors of the World UK, added:
“As healthcare budgets become increasingly squeezed globally children are the biggest losers. That’s why this campaign is so timely as any donations could enable us to reach thousands of excluded children with essential healthcare.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.