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Sadly one in four women will lose a baby during pregnancy or birth. This is Katie’s story: ‘I was cleaning the shower when I told my husband: “If the baby carries on moving like this I’ll be battered and bruised.” The next morning I felt fine but I did think to myself the baby isn’t moving. I phoned the Day Assessment Unit and I went straight in. When they tried they couldn’t find a heartbeat – the baby had died. I thought: “What horrendous thing have I done to cause this?” But the post mortem didn't find anything wrong. I didn’t realise it happens more frequently than we think.’ Tommy’s funds research into the causes and prevention of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth to help save babies like Katie’s. By 2030 we want to halve the number of babies that die during pregnancy or birth.

Alexander was born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID), which deprived him of a functioning immune system. Thanks to Jeans for Genes funding, in 2005 an expert team at Great Ormond Street Hospital was able to deliver the news his family had all hoped for earlier that year. Following successful treatment, this happy toddler became one of only a handful of patients to undergo gene therapy for a rare genetic condition. One child in 33 in the UK is born with a genetic disorder – making these disorders far more common than most people realise. This situation will not change without the money raised by appeals like Jeans for Genes. We need to continue to fund research projects to increase our understanding of genetic disorders and develop much-needed cures and treatments.

Hadija lives with her husband and children in a small compound of straw and mud huts in Uganda.They have no electricity or running water. At the age of 36 Hadija has just started primary school. She goes to a project supported by Education Action with her family that has dramatically changed her life: ‘At school they gave me some seeds and gradually I learnt to count. I now know if one of my hens is missing. In the market I can work out how much things cost and can weigh things using scales. When I sit in class with my children it feels really nice. I am beyond happiness.’ Education Action believes everybody deserves a quality education whatever their age. Education reduces poverty, child mortality and malnutrition. It slows the growth of HIV/AIDS and increases economic growth and household incomes.

Help the Aged is the only UK charity to fund research into the range of conditions we are likely to face in later life including neurodegeneration, bone loss, stroke, incontinence, vision and hearing loss. Through its biomedical research programme, Research into Ageing, the charity has funded researchers, past and present, who are responsible for some of the most important breakthroughs in the field of biomedical research – bringing hope for a healthier later life to thousands of older people. For example, Professor John Hardy undertook a pioneering study into Alzheimer’s which led to the discovery of the gene implicated in the development of the disease. Professor Rose Anne Kenny, another researcher funded by the charity, established the link between recurrent falls and undiagnosed heart conditions.

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Giving for Living, 3 Dufferin Street, London, EC1Y 8NA. Telephone 020 7426 5800. info@education-action.org