Giving children a headstart
Millions of children all over the world aren’t getting their basic needs met. When children are prevented from reaching their potential, this can have devastating consequences for their lives, for their whole communities and for future generations.
With your donations, Comic Relief partners with organisations in the UK and around the world to ensure that every child has the best start in life – by supporting families and communities to meet all young children’s needs.
Survive and Thrive Boxes
Each year around the world, it is estimated that more than 5 million children die before their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable and treatable causes.
It is estimated that almost half of all children who survive until they are five are not achieving their developmental potential.
In the UK, poor nutrition affects around 4 million children whose families struggle to afford enough healthy food.
We believe that every child has the right to the best start in life.
Ensuring all children have good health, nutrition, care and stimulation, and that they grow up in safety is a global challenge. While children in low and middle-income countries are more likely to face challenges that can significantly affect their physical and mental growth, children all over the world experience barriers to their development as happy, healthy and confident individuals.
By working with those closest to the issues, our funding helps to ensure children grow up with a safe home, stimulation, good nutrition and access to healthcare.
Read their stories
Your donations make a very real difference to people in the UK and around the world. Read how people are changing their lives with your support.
Harbour Support Services
Harbour Support Services supports the mothers and children living in the refuges across Northeast England, and Comic Relief funds two early years practitioners who support women who are pregnant or with children under school age.
Meet Matilda
After her father died suddenly at home, Matilda, 13, turned to the Comic Relief-funded project Balloons in Devon to support her bereavement.
Meet Velna
After discovering that she was HIV positive while pregnant with her first child, Velna knows how scary this can be. With the help of mothers2mothers, she now uses her own experiences to support other mums.
Your donation will change lives
Donate now and help people living incredibly tough lives both in the UK and across the world. This includes supporting people fleeing the war in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts.
See our other focus areas
See our other areas of focus - Children Survive & Thrive
SAFE PLACE TO BE
1 in 5 people around the world don’t have a safe place to be. We make sure people find a safe place to call home. We also challenge negative attitudes to homelessness and migration.
BETTER MENTAL HEALTH
Every year, close to 1 billion people worldwide experience mental health problems. We help people get access to mental health services. We work to tackle the stigma people with mental health conditions so often face. And we push for governments to do more.
SAFETY AND EQUALITY FOR WOMEN & GIRLS
Violence and abuse against women and girls is a global epidemic: it affects 1 in 3 women worldwide. We’re working towards a world where women and girls can fulfil their potential, and live free from violence, discrimination and fear.