Among the key findings in the report, Save the Children found that in particular frontline female healthcare workers contribute to dramatic reductions in maternal, newborn, and child mortality rates. In countries where more female workers are sent to rural communities they have also seen a rise in immunization rates and a decline in malaria rates.

Working to save the lives of so many may seem to fly in the face of the United Nations’ World Population Prospects which estimates unsustainable human population growth over the next 90 years, but in reality addressing maternal health can also work towards addressing over-population. The World Mothers report also found that in countries where women had better healthcare support couples were more inclined to be using modern contraceptives. Investing in girls’ education also pays off - as better educated women tend to marry later in life and have fewer and healthier children.

Save the Children’s objective is just that, to save children, but their report brings important attention to the complex issues facing all humanity. We are compelled to care for and support the continued growth of our race, but it is clear that we must manage our population growth in a responsible and thoughtful way to ensure environmental balance and sustainability. And the best way to achieve this is through cooperation among governments, NGOs, and international organizations like the UN.

Starting on the lowest rung of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, for just $20 you can help feed two children lunch at school for a whole month in Burkina Faso (once known as Upper Volta) in western Africa.  You can help buy lunch every day for a year for $200.  If you’ve ever been hungry after missing a meal, you’ll know how distracting hunger can be.  As well, children need food so they develop properly and stay healthy.

We’re so lucky to be able to turn on our taps and get clean water.  Access to clean water is vitally important, and for $50 you can contribute towards providing a water filter for a school to help children avoid illness.  You can also buy six ceramic water filters for rural schools for $300, and help keep Nicaraguan children healthy.

For $500, you can support the purchase of ten doses of Pentaxine, a vaccine that fights hepatitis, which can be fatal for children.

Consider sponsoring basic school supplies including notebooks, pens, pencils, and a geometry set for children in Latin America for $35.  Or for $80, help Save the Children purchase a locally-made desk for two students, in Burkina Faso or Kenya.

You can also assist a teacher with transportation so they can get to school, visit parents, and even transport a sick child to a medical clinic, all for $100.

Accessing health services, education, and other state services in Nicaragua requires having a birth registration.  For $25, you can help ensure that two Nicaraguan children have their births registered and can access the services that they need.

Remote communities in places such as Nicaragua often lack health facilities.  For $120, you can assist in equipping a health services birthing team, including a midwife, and even emergency obstetric care if needed.

Feeling truly philanthropic? $1,000 provides 90 tables and benches for 180 students in Burkina Faso.

So as you rush around completing your shopping and trying to fulfill wish lists, please remember that the children of our world also have wish lists.  Let’s help them smile and feel the joy of this season and of having basic life needs met for the coming months.