Helping Children Worldwide Inc

Child Welfare and Child Reintegration Centre - The Organization provides support in Sierra Leone for aid to young women, children and families suffering from extreme poverty and continued to provide primary financial support for the Child Reintegration Centre ("CRC") in Sierra Leone. The Organization assisted in the launch of an in-country network of NGOs supporting orphans and vulnerable children in Sierra Leone, acting as the Secretariate, and provided the network with resources such as an internet-based storage drive, website, and email.The collaboration between the Organization and CRC offers direct services to children and families in one of the most impoverished regions of the world, and provides training, coaching and mentoring services to child welfare agencies in Sierra Leone and West Africa to change their service model to family support work. In Sierra Leone, almost 60% of the population lives below the national poverty line, while 13% lives in extreme poverty. More than 60% of the population lack adequate food, and close to 40% lack access to safe water. More than a quarter of all children under age five are malnourished. Because of CRC programs, over 1,600 children and 429 families were supported during 2024.

Global Health and Mercy Hospital - The shared mission of Mercy UMC Hospital ("Mercy") and the Organization is to improve infant and maternal mortality rates in Sierra Leone by providing holistic, community-focused care, regardless of ability to pay. Maternal health is a crucial element of poverty and child mortality. Mercy is a 50-bed facility with a trained and dedicated medical staff including a full-time doctor, a medical laboratory, a research laboratory, a fully stocked pharmacy on-site, an HIV/Aids clinic, and a surgical wing with two operating theatres. As of October of 2024, between malaria clinics (7705), nutrition clinics (1353), hospital admissions and hospital outpatient services (2838), aids clinics (5945) and prenatal clinics (1167), Mercy Hospital and Mercy Outreach were able to provide medical and diagnostic services to 19,008 patients in Bo and 45 surrounding villages in the District of Bo. Mercy's outreach into the surrounding villages includes nutrition clinics and treatment provided for malnourished infants, prenatal care and education, malaria testing and treatment, diarrhetic disease diagnosis and treatment, and HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, as well as support for basic health needs in clean water and sanitation.Following up on the Organization's Together for Global Health conference in 2023, members from the network of practitioners across the globe collaborated on development of a new training program in Sierra Leone for maternal/infant health practitioners. 100 midwives and nurses were trained in multiple curricula. The training brought together universities, NGOs, private business, government and health practitioners from many countries, a unique approach, and certified local midwives and nurses to be master trainers, in line with the Organization's empowerment approach to global development. The Organization's global health technical advisor and her global health intern evaluated outcomes and produced a baseline report. The network agreed to bring the training back each year until the training has been presented in every district and began planning for future trainings.The Organization held trips for the first time to several countries where member organizations from HCW's Together for Global Health network are located, engaging in maternal health conferences.