In carrying out its health initiatives, Save the Children works in partnership with local communities to define needs, develop strategies, and build the community's capacity to sustain positive changes in behavior and practices over the long-term. Health initiatives also seek to bring about the empowerment of women and adolescent girls - building their confidence to raise critical issues, such as child spacing, safe birth practices, and domestic violence. Save the Children also works to influence national-level policies to improve the health of women and their children through partnerships with ministry of health officials, local groups, and community organizations. Health programs in Nepal, Vietnam, and Bolivia illustrate the scope and impact of Save the Children's health initiatives. Women often marry while they are still adolescents and begin childbearing early, sometimes before their bodies are fully mature, leading to increased risk of pregnancy complications.
Many villages are remote, far from government health posts, which are often poorly equipped.
Women in Nepal give birth to an average of five children, and less than one-third use family planning. Most give birth on old mats, straw, or the bare floor. The newborn's umbilical cord is generally cut on wood or a coin, with ash, dried cow dung, or spider webs applied to the cord stump. It is no surprise that infections like tetanus are common in infants and in new mothers. Designed to lower the risk of infections in mothers and infants during childbirth, the kit contains a plastic sheet, a razor blade, string ties, a plastic disk for cutting and string for tying the umbilical cord, and a simple instruction sheet.