Every step you take can save a life

Lao Friends Hospital for Children is delighted to announce that the Run For Children will take place on October 28, 2023, in Luang Prabang. This year’s event will be bigger and better than ever, with over 2000 runners expected to participate! This year’s RUN FOR CHILDREN also falls on the same weekend as the magical lantern festival! The temples and streets of Luang Prabang will be illuminated with lanterns and candles, making this annual festival one of the most beautiful in the Lao calendar.

The race blends the beauty of Luang Prabang with a good cause. Every dollar raised from the event supports Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC). LFHC is the only free children’s hospital in Northern Laos. They provide high-quality, compassionate healthcare to over 35,000 children each year. These children often come from Northern Laos’s poorest and most remote regions.

LFHC has twelve departments, including a 42-bed in-patient department, an out-patient department that sees 150 children per day, a state-of-the-art neonatal unit that provides care to babies as small as 700 grams, a unique outreach department that travels thousands of kilometers each year to ensure patients who are too sick to travel or can’t afford to journey to LFHC receive the healthcare they need, and a High-Acuity-Unit (HAU) that provides free treatment to the very sickest children in Northern Laos.

Malnutrition is linked to nearly half of the deaths of children under five in Laos. 33% of children in Laos suffer from stunted growth, which causes underdeveloped brains and growth. These impacts affect not just families but the entire country’s future.

This year Lao Friends Hospital for Children was picked as the best provider of malnutrition management and care in the entire country. UNICEF and the Ministry of Health asked the team at LFHC to share their knowledge and expertise with all of the 18 provincial hospitals in Laos. This training was a resounding success, and it is already beginning to show results. In just eight years since LFHC opened, it has gone from a dream to a leading provider of free healthcare. None of this would be possible without the backing and support of donors who are vicariously saving young lives with their kindness.

One quote is engraved above the entrance to Lao Friends Hospital for Children. It reads, “Treat every child as if they were your own.” These are the words of Japanese photographer Kenro Izu who first had the idea for the hospital when he saw a father lose his son because he could not afford the $2 cost of his healthcare. The LFHC staff embody this quote daily by providing compassionate healthcare to any child who needs it.

The RUN FOR CHILDREN is a unique opportunity to play your part in supporting the work being done at LFHC. All the proceeds from the race go directly to Lao Friends Hospital for Children. You’ll also be a part of a heartwarming event with thousands of people joining together as a community to race through the beautiful streets of Luang Prabang.
We hope to see you in Luang Prabang on October 28th!

Text & PHOTOGRAPHS BY Lao Friends Hospital for Children