Donate to PATH : Special

We all get it, but we don’t all die

With your support, we can change the odds for kids around the world. Donate to PATH now.

Together, we can stop diarrheal disease

It’s something nearly every child around the world will face: severe diarrhea. For most, it means a quick trip to the doctor and little more.

Yet without basic treatment its effects can be deadly. In developing nations, diarrheal disease takes the lives of more kids under age five than AIDS and malaria combined.

No child should die from diarrhea. With your support, we can change the odds.

We can create a better future

Little Wilson is severely ill with diarrhea.

In Nicaragua, one of the world’s poorest countries, two-year-old Wilson lay in a hospital bed, weak from dehydration. On Friday, he got a stomachache. By Monday, his worried mother brought him to the hospital, where doctors rehydrated him through an IV. The little boy is dazed from his battle against diarrhea, but good news: he is on the road to recovery.

Health workers in Nicaragua used to see a lot of cases like Wilson’s. With limited access to clean water and frequent unsanitary conditions, especially after heavy rains spill sewage into community water supplies, children would become severely ill with diarrhea.

PATH is changing this picture, and you can join us.

The right answers exist

We’ve helped to provide new treatments for diarrhea, such as zinc and oral rehydration salts, and we assisted Nicaragua in introducing a new vaccine against rotavirus, the most common and lethal form of diarrhea. Today, the country’s hospital diarrhea wards are nearly empty, a sign that fewer children are suffering from severe diarrhea.

But our work doesn’t end here. Safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, basic health services—communities worldwide need these things and more to protect their children from diarrhea. We’re turning our attention now to Kenya, finding ways to help even more families see a healthy future.

Help us continue to find solutions for diarrheal disease

Little Wilson and every child should have a safety net to support them from serious illness. Together, we are leading the charge for a healthier world and healthier children.

Your gift can still help people in poor countries meet the very real challenges they face every day. Donate to PATH now.

Photos: Miguel Alvarez.