Health
Health
Our Impact
A world where all children are healthy
Globally, children in the poorest households are twice as likely as those in wealthier households to die before their fifth birthday, and the most vulnerable continue to face a similar burden of health challenges as they did decades ago. Almost half of under-five deaths occur during the newborn period, and vulnerable children are still exposed to preventable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, which together are responsible for almost half of under-five mortality. Children who have not yet received routine vaccinations – referred to as zero-dose children – account for nearly half of all vaccine-preventable deaths.
At World Vision, we confront these realities head-on. Our health interventions are designed to address the leading causes of illness and mortality among children under five. Through family- and community-centered approaches, we focus on behaviour change, community and health systems strengthening, and advocacy at various levels to break the cycle of vulnerability.
Our work aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. By working closely with families, communities, and partners, we are committed to addressing immediate health challenges and contributing to the broader global agenda of achieving universal health coverage and improving overall well-being.
Our Approaches
Health and Nutrition Sector Approach (HNSA)
In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and the WHO Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescent Health, World Vision is focused on holistic child wellbeing, incorporating the promotion of child and adolescent development to prepare them for lifelong health.
Community Health Workers (CHW)
World Vision engages in a wide range of community health activities globally, many of which draw on the efforts of community health workers or CHWs. World Vision's CHW programmes aim to work with existing health structures through strong, long-term partnerships in order to deliver consistently high standards of quality implementation, training and support, to enable community health workforces that are sustainable, functional and effective. World Vision is committed to ensuring community systems and health systems strengthening approaches.
Nurturing Care Groups (NCG)
An integrated cross-sectoral model based on the Care Groups approach, addressing a range of social norms and behaviour change in health, nutrition, WASH, early child development and child protection.
Community Health Committees (COMM)
Empowering community stakeholders and leaders to identify, plan and promote improvements in health and nutrition practices, social norms and services.
Featured Articles
Health and Nutrition Research
Our research guides the direction of our health and nutrition programmes, as we study the effectiveness of current methods of impact, to ensure that future programme implementation will be even more effective.
Nutrition
Good nutrition is an essential foundation for health and development, yet malnutrition continues to be the world’s most serious health problem and the single-biggest contributor to child mortality.
Our goal is to ensure that mothers and children are well nourished across our global programming reach.
Newborn Care
Most newborn deaths can be prevented by mothers and community health workers carrying out healthy practices.
World Vision's Essential Newborn Care lays out the foundational steps to caring for newborns.
Maternal and Child Health
Providing newborns with optimal nutrition and access to essential care ensures a healthy start in life. Maternal health is the most critical determinant of neonatal outcomes, and a healthy newborn is the best promise for the future.
World Vision's Maternal and Child Health helps guide communities in this care.
