{"id":6397,"date":"2026-09-06T23:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6397"},"modified":"2026-09-06T23:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:32:32","slug":"church-donates-1-2-million-to-unicef-for-maternal-and-newborn-health-in-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6397","title":{"rendered":"Church donates $1.2 million to UNICEF for maternal and newborn health in Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living Faith
\n6 Sept 2026, 4:00 p.m. MDT
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a $1.2 million donation to strengthen maternal<\/a> and newborn health services in Pakistan<\/p>\n

It will help launch and sustain a new two-year initiative with UNICEF. The Church is also partnering with UNICEF to help mothers and newborns across South Asia, with care before, during and after childbirth. The donation was announced on Monday, Aug. 31, in Islamabad, Pakistan<\/p>\n

The Church has previously partnered with UNICEF to support mothers and children, including with a $25 million donation earlier this year to UNICEF\u2019s Child Nutrition Fund<\/p>\n

Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson said the maternal and newborn health services initiative will strengthen healthcare systems and close red their children receive during pivotal moments of their lives, helping create healthier futures for families and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEach mother and child has great worth and infinite potential, and we have seen how communities thrive when they receive the care and reakistan website<\/p>\n

Pernille Ironside, UNICEF representative in Pakistan, said investing in sustainable and quality maternal and newborn care means saving precious lives<\/p>\n

\n\"Elder
Elder Kelly R. Johnson, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church\u2019s Asia Area, and Pernille Ironside, UNICEF representative in Pakistan, pose for a photo at the announcement of the Church’s $1.2 million donation to UNICEF’s effort to support neonatal and newborn care in Pakistan in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Aug. 31, 2026. | UNICEF Pakistan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe generous support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is helping UNICEF strengthen the health systems and services needed to give children the best possible start in life,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

Elder Kelly R. Johnson, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church\u2019s Asia Area, said the Church is grateful and pleased to continue the long-standing collaboration with UNICEF<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church seeks to extend care to an ever-increasing number of God\u2019s children in need \u2014 in this case helping thousands of mothers and newborn babies in Pakistan receive access to lifesaving care that will lead to a better life for each affected family<\/a>,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

Preventing avoidable deaths<\/h2>\n

The new program aims to reach 410,000 mothers and newborns in Pakistan over the next two years<\/p>\n

More than 700 newborns die, and around 500 are stillborn every day in Pakistan,and approximately two mothers die every hour from pregnancy<\/a>-related complications in the country, reported the Pakistan Newsroom news release<\/p>\n

\n\"Elder
Elder Kelly R. Johnson, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church\u2019s Asia Area, and Pernille Ironside, UNICEF representative in Pakistan, pose for a photo at the announcement of the Church’s $1.2 million donation to UNICEF’s effort to support neonatal and newborn care in Pakistan in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Aug. 31, 2026. | UNICEF Pakistan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In South Asia each year, 784,000 newborns die within their first month of life, and 597,000 babies are stillborn. Malnutrition, gaps in referral systems, weak supply chains and unequal access to quality health services have complicated the problem<\/p>\n

Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said nearly two-thirds of all deaths among children under 5 in South Asia occur in the very first month of life<\/p>\n

\u201cFor mothers and newborns alike, quality care before, during and after childbirth can mean the difference between life and death,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

UNICEF reports the problem can be solved by focusing on maternal care before birth, routine immunizations, supporting health facilities with essential supplies and equipment, and strengthening the capacity for frontline healthcare workers<\/p>\n

This initiative aims to increase prenatal care coverage and institutional delivery rates by 50%, while also strengthening the quality and availability of essential maternal and newborn health services<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthy families begin with mothers and newborns getting the care they need at the moments that matter most,\u201d said Mickey Lui, Asia Area director for temporal affairs of the Church. \u201cBy investing in frontline health workers and the reaving maternal and newborn services closer to families and communities across South Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"Babra
Babra is in her second trimester and is being vaccinated against maternal and neonatal tetanus by a female healthcare worker in the Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan in early 2024. | Zunash Abbasi in Pakistan, UNICEF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Church and UNICEF<\/h2>\n

The Relief Society organization is leading the Church\u2019s efforts to care for women and children, especially through child nutrition, maternal and newborn care, immunizations and education<\/p>\n

The Church of Jesus Christ works in collaboration with local and international organizations to help those in need and has supported UNICEF \u2014 the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund \u2014 since 2013 with closely aligned goals<\/p>\n

In May 2026, the Church made a $25 million donation to UNICEF\u2019s Child Nutrition Fund for mothers and children in need in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines and Sierra Leone<\/p>\n

At that time, Presiding Bishop W. Christopher Waddell said the Church is grateful to work with UNICEF<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church\u2019s efforts to care for those who are vulnerable are guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ to seek out and serve individuals,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

The Church made other large donations in 2022 \u2014 with a $5 million donation to UNICEF\u2019s new \u201cNo Time To Waste\u201d global campaign to combat malnutrition; in 2023 with $10 million to strengthen health systems in the Central African Republic, Haiti, Mali and Mozambique<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a $1.2 million donation to strengthen maternal and newborn health services in Pakistan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[566,918,80,291,1045],"class_list":["post-6397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pregnancy","tag-church","tag-donates","tag-maternal","tag-million","tag-unicef"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6401,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397\/revisions\/6401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}