Q&A: What’s a philanthropic cause that’s been ‘under the radar’ for too long?

Every month, I publish an answer to a reader’s question. Here’s a transcript of my answer to the reader’s question about important philanthropic causes.

Hey Lisanne, what’s a philanthropic cause that’s been under the radar for too long?

It is incomprehensible to me, and I think to many of us that grew up the way I did, to wake up in the morning and not know what you are going to eat, where you are going to sleep, or where you are going to do your ‘need’ due to a lack of a proper toilet.

What strikes me about those lack of basic needs is how preventable it is, yet how we not treating it as an emergency. Still there are quite a few obstacles in the world that cause children to grow up with a lack of safety, health and fulfillment.

One of the roadblocks that hold children back from a healthy future, is malaria. Particularly children and pregnant women are vulnerable to this disease. The Malaria Foundation is working hard to make sure that these nets are funded and then delivered to those people in remote places, mainly in African countries.

Another one is diarrhea. Every year, 500.000 children under 5 years old, die because of an infectional disease due to a lack of a proper toilet.

No matter the cause, it’s almost always children, who don’t have the agency to make its own decisions, that will be prone to the situation that is given to them. I owe a lot to my teachers, my family and those caregivers that were present in my childhood.

How about you? What kind of causes do you care about? Let me know in the comments.

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