|
Child Mortality is not a controversial subject. We do not want to see children dying from curable diseases or starvation. We want to know how the deaths can be prevented, but before we pledge our support, we also need some evidence of the work being done with our money.
Save the Children’s ‘See where the Good Goes’ campaign aims to do exactly this. It focuses on supporting local health workers, who make a phenomenal difference in ensuring less children suffer from conditions easily treated. One of the central problems regarding healthcare in developing countries is distance. In the rural areas of any country it is likely that the nearest medical centre is a bit of a drive. So what do you do if you don’t have a car? Get a bus? What if there is no bus either because the road is unsafe to drive on, or because there is no transport system? Often walking is the only way.
This video shows us Mahmuda Akhter, a health worker in Bangladesh, on her way to see a patient. She walks many miles to see and treat children. With haunting background music, lush scenery and her beautiful traditional dress, Mahmuda could be used as a clip for a tourism advertisement for Bangladesh. Hence the invitation to compare her to a catwalk model.
It is refreshing to see a video like this. Many other campaign videos, particularly ones that focus on child mortality try to invoke our sympathy by pushing emotional buttons. Effective in recruiting donors, and truthful though they might be, ultimately we only left with a sense of the horror. Of course, there are two sides to every story. Whilst there is no sense in pretending everything is idyllic as tourism often does, likewise not all aid projects resemble a horror story.
Where the Good Goes is a success story. Due to basic care provided by health workers, a child is saved every 4 seconds. For all the negative statistics, there are hopeful ones too. More support is needed of course, more health workers have to be trained, but it is happening. Its just one of the many smaller easy solutions contributing to the bigger goals.
|
Design by 
