Israel's Save a Child's Heart organization, recognized as a world leader in providing life-saving cardiac surgery for children from developing countries, has been awarded the 2018 United Nations Population Award, established by the UN General Assembly in 1981 to recognize outstanding achievements in population and health.
Established in 1996, Save a Child's Heart has served 4,400 children from 55 countries. Approximately 50% of the children are from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco, more than 30% are from Africa, and the remainder are from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas. In 2011, following efforts by the Israeli Mission to the UN, Save a Child’s Heart was awarded consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).