Theme Background
We’ve been working together to help make a healthier world for 65 years. While we’ve refined the skills to support people out of poverty and
ill health, the demand for what we provide still increases. Our work is far from done.
To help our Haitian post earthquake “bath baby” featured in this year’s poster reach 65 years old will take collective effort. She survived the
January earthquake, but now she needs your support. Coming from a developing country she is statistically 13 times more likely to die before
the age of five than any New Zealand child.
For this special 65th Christmas Appeal we’ve taken stock and realised that health and healing have been on our agenda all the time. The
mission of God is the purpose of our work; to help families eat better, drink safe water, and enjoy better health as foundations for a better
future.
That’s why our theme this year is ‘share the care’.
We want to remind us all that health is so much more than just a lack of illness; it can also be about vitality, wellness and healing.
While the battle seems constant there is progress with tools like the United Nations Millennium Development Goals providing a precise set of
goals for a better world.
In 65 years there are some inspiring stories to tell, made possible by your generosity. Like...
Supporting carers for people with HIV and AIDS so everyone gets a better standard of living.
Providing healing therapy programmes for children and adults traumatised by war and disaster.
Supporting health for mothers and children trying to live against the grim backdrop of a war zone.
Or, reclaiming and developing traditional farming techniques that improve nutrition and incomes while at the same time helping maintain local
cultures and values.
People overseas don’t want to be labelled as poor and hopeless. Like us they want to become the authors of their own life stories and to build
a better future for their communities. Helping people out of poverty, allows them to be healthier and more resilient in their future.
Christmas can and should be more than just a celebration.
While it opens the door on ultimate mysteries it also provides us with some bedrock certainties.
One of these is that giving people the opportunity for health and healing is to align ourselves with the essence of spirituality and goodness.
Christmas connects us with all people and with God the giver of life. This year let us join together again to help bring hope and healing to the
world. Let us ‘share the care’.
In a Box
Health Facts
“Better health is central to human happiness and well-being. It also makes an important contribution to economic progress, as healthy
populations live longer, are more productive, and save more. Poverty creates ill-health because it forces people to live in environments that
make them sick, without decent shelter, clean water or adequate sanitation.” World Health Organisation

In the 49 Least Developed Countries, life expectancy is just 49 years, and one in ten children do not reach their first birthday. In highincome countries the average life span is 77 years and children are 11 times more likely to survive to five.
 Every day, one billion people do not get enough to eat. Each year 10 million people die of hunger and hunger related illnesses.
 In 2008, 2.6 billion people had no access to a hygienic toilet or latrine. 1.1 billion had none at all.
 Globally, the percentage of the world’s population with access to safe drinking-water increased from 77% in 1990 to 87% in 2008.
However in the Pacific only 50% of people have such access.
 Every minute, at least one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth –529 000 women a year. Another 10
million women suffer injury, infection or disease. Most could be avoided by accessible, affordable and quality health care.
 Every year, more than 1 million children are left motherless because of maternal death. They are up to 10 times more likely to die
prematurely than children who have not lost their mothers.
 HIV is the world’s leading infectious killer, with an estimated 2 million AIDS deaths in 2008 alone. More than 95% of all HIV-positive
people live in low- and middle-income countries. Even though HIV treatment access has expanded 10-fold in five years, only 42% of
people in low- and middle-income countries who need antiretroviral treatment receive it.
 Annual deaths of children under five years of age in 2008 fell to 8.8 million, down by 30% from 1990. Yet nearly 3 million children under
five still die each year from diarrhoea and pneumonia.
(sources: UN and WHO)