SURFAID

20 Sep 2017

Tragedy Transformed | One Man’s Loss Saves Many More

Photo by Chandra

Bapak Jola remembers the birth of his daughters, and he remembers their death too. At just one and three years old, Bapak Jola lost his girls to one of Sumba’s biggest killers: malaria. ...read more

12 Sep 2017

Team Becker named the 2017 SurfAid Cup Malibu Champions

01 Sep 2017

Join Dr. Dave for #SurfAidSeptember

#SurfAidSeptember is our annual campaign dedicated to raising awareness for SurfAid’s Mother and Child Health Programmes. After more than 17 years of working in some of the world’s most remote communities, I am proud to announce that SurfAid is achieving our strongest field results to date.

Thankfully, our communities have had seen a reprieve from natural disasters for the past seven years. In the absence of disasters we have been able to focus solely on our Mother and Child Health Programmes to ensure access to clean water & sanitation, basic healthcare, and improved nutrition. These simple steps are drastically reducing the maternal and child mortality rates and have enormously positive impact on the health of our families.

A few of our most significant results include:

In Nias - SurfAid has helped to reduce maternal deaths from 8 annually to zero for two years in a row. During the same timeframe, the mortality rate for children under five has all but disappeared with only one death reported last year. That is down from an average of 22 per year at the start of the programme in 2012.

In Sumbawa – SurfAid has partnered with families in Parado sub-district to build 92 water wells, drop the diarrhoea rate in children to less than 0.5%, establish 15 community health posts that have seen the rate of women seeking prenatal care rise up to 94%, and establish 150 nutrition gardens throughout the community.

In the Mentawai – In SurfAid's most recent programme, 98% of people living in targeted communities now enjoy clean water, and 14 community health posts have been established. As a result, 75% of pregnant women are attending the health posts, and the percentage of pregnant women with inadequate nutrition has decreased from 27% to 5%.

One of the most critical components of our success is you. We could not achieve such incredible results without your help - thank you for making a difference. I invite you to share the impact you are making and help us raise awareness for #SurfAidSeptember. It can be as simple as sharing our story on social media to catching a wave in our honour. Here’s some simple ways you can get involved:

1. Surf and Save a Life – Registration is now open for the SurfAid Cup Malibu, Manly, or Gold Coast

2. Volunteer – we have a variety of ways you can support SurfAid. Contact your local US, AU, or NZ headquarters to learn more

3. Social Media Takeover – Replace your profile pic with one of SurfAid’s photo assets and share our content with your friends. Be sure to check out the behind the scenes info we’ll be sharing from SurfAid’s latest monitoring trip to the field.

4. Support – make a donation or support those who support us by purchasing a product that benefits SurfAid.

For a complete list of involvement opportunities, visit SurfAid.org/SurfAidSeptember2017

On behalf of SurfAid’s mothers, children, and families - terima kasih (thank you)!
Dr. Dave

...read more

22 Aug 2017

SurfAid Celebrates World Humanitarian Day

Dr. Stephen Nolan and some of SurfAid’s youngest partners Sumba
Many people know that SurfAid was born out of Dr. Dave’s 1999 trip to the Mentawai islands, but do you know the Sumba story? Nearly 10 years after Dr. Dave was struck by the needless suffering and preventable death in the Mentawai, and over 2,500 kilometers away, Dr. Stephen Nolan and his wife Kathryn had a similar experience. Having founded the Sumba Foundation Australia in 2009, the two organisations saw the potential for greater impact and merged in 2014 to bring SurfAid's Mother and Child Health Programme to Sumba. ...read more

17 Aug 2017

Countdown to the SurfAid Cup Malibu

03 Aug 2017

SurfAid Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week

Photo By Rahmania

Saving babies begins with breastmilk. In the first few months of life, breastfed babies are six times more likely to survive than children who are not breastfed. Despite this statistic, globally, only 36% of infants under six months are exclusively breastfed. ...read more