Five & Alive

Five & Alive is an international fundraising and awareness initiative of Population Services International (PSI). The initiative is focused on education and treatment of preventable diseases.^[2][3]

Founded	2007
Founder	Kate Roberts
Tax ID no.	56-0942853[1]
Focus	Humanitarian
Location	Washington, DC
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Kate Roberts Karl W. Hofmann
Revenue	$417,470,056 (as of 2008)[1]
Employees	101–500[1]
Website	psi.org/five-alive

History

Five & Alive was established by Kate Roberts in 2007 as a subsidiary program of Population Services International, where she serves as Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications. The health program is a collaborative initiative of YouthAIDS, an HIV/AIDS prevention program of PSI.^[4]

Programs

Mosquito net attached to the ceiling

Infectious diseases treatment

Five & Alive water-treated products include a sodium hypochlorite-based water solution, chlorine-based tablets, and a flocculent powder for people to purify water at the household level.^[5] Five & Alive has promoted oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc supplements for children who may die from diarrhea-related dehydration.^[5] Five & Alive's pre-packaged therapy kits that contain cotrimoxazole were provided through private sector clinics to treat pneumonia in children under five.^[6]

Healthcare services

Five & Alive has estimated that over 3.5 million deaths of mothers and children have occurred due to malnutrition, or "undernutrition", and has stated that for children, ensuring access to health and nutritional sustenance during the first 1,000 days from conception to age two can break the cycle of malnutrition.^[7]

Five & Alive provided services include ensuring access to immunization and vaccination, and water and sanitation. Additional services include access to basic education, primarily for young girls.^[8] Five & Alive promotes a set of interventions that includes breastfeeding, kangaroo mother care, and delayed bathing.^[8]

Partnerships

Five & Alive collaborated with the magazine Condé Nast Traveler, in which they offered financial support through their Five & Alive Fund in addition to print coverage in support of Five & Alive's marketing campaigns.^[9][10] As a founding partner of the Condé Nast Traveler Five & Alive Fund, Crystal Cruises has raised over $180,000. Assistance has included the distribution of child survival packages in Uganda and assistance in training healthcare workers to provide diagnoses and treatments to children in Cameroon. They also provide an opportunity for travelers to donate financially and purchase merchandise in their onboard retail shops.^[11]

Partnerships with Blackberry Farm and The Inn at Little Washington have led to several fundraising events. Appetite for Life dinners at Blackberry Farm in 2009 and 2010 raised over $160,000^[12] towards Five & Alive's initiatives in Haiti, while events at the Inn at Little Washington raised over $650,000.^[13] The program has been promoted by Ashley Judd,^[14][15] Molly Sims,^[16] Anna Kournikova,^[17] and Mandy Moore.^[18]

Notable members

• Frank E. Loy – Chair, former Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs
• Rehana Ahmed – physician, reproductive health specialist for the United Nations Millennium Project, Nairobi, Kenya
• David E. Bloom – Chair, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health
• Barbara Bush – President, Global Health Corps, New York
• William C. Harrop – former U.S. Ambassador to Guinea, Israel, Kenya, and Zaire; and Inspector General of the U.S. Department of State and the Foreign Service, Washington, DC
• Judith Richards Hope – Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; attorney, Washington, DC
• Ashley Judd – Public Health and Human Rights Activist, Franklin, Tennessee
• Gilbert Omenn – Professor of Internal Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Malcolm Potts – Chair, Population and Family Planning in the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health

Further reading

• Judd, Ashley. All That Is Bitter & Sweet, New York: Random House, 2011. ISBN 978-0345524829