International (MNN) — 22,000 children die every day unnecessarily. That's one every four seconds — four million every year. "And they're dying from preventable diseases," says President of Medical Teams International Bas Vanderzalm.
The question is: what can we do about it? Vanderzalm says Medical Teams is doing something. "We want to save and change the lives of one-million children and women around the world. Some of those are the poorest and the neediest and in the most difficult of circumstances. That's why we're calling it the 'One in A Million Campaign.'"
Vanderzalm says they're targeting 16 countries in the next month.
Liberia is just one of the countries. Liberia's government is stable again, says Vanderzalm, but the medical needs are great. "We are working with 150,000 people in a county in Liberia. We're building health facilities, we're going into communities, and we're helping mothers who are pregnant, letting them know about good nutrition and providing them the care they need; that's actually going to save lives."
The cost to help one person is almost unbelievable. "For $2.35, someone can actually make sure that we can get the training that a mother might need, the medicine a child might need, or the help that is needed to rebuild a health facility; and that's going to touch 150,000 lives," says Vanderzalm.
Your investment in this program can actually be multiplied. "We have a couple who has already pledged $200,000 to us as a matching gift," Vanderzalm adds. So your gift of $100, $200, or $1,000 will be matched dollar for dollar.
Vanderzalm says it's not all about making people healthy physically: it's helping spiritually, too. "We are working in a county where only 10% of the people are Christians. All of the others are Muslims or people of other faiths. This provides us with an opportunity to show the love of Christ to people who don't know Him."
Vanderzalm adds, "As a result, in the months and years ahead, people in communities will come to know Christ, and churches will grow."
If you'd like to help the One in a Million Campaign, click here.
