Every day 1,000 children are newly infected with HIV, and every year thousands of children under five die from this preventable illness. UNICEF is working to achieve an AIDS-free generation by 2015—taking one more step toward reaching our goal of zero children dying from preventable causes. It is a big task, but with the cooperation of governments, NGOs, health clinics, and supporters like you, we can help every child reach their fifth birthday. Here are some of the most effective ways that UNICEF is using to help keep children safe from HIV/AIDS.

Over the past couple of weeks, USAID in partnership with UNICEF launched the “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign. This sentiment really struck me, for I have two children, twin girls, who are five years old. I cannot imagine them, or any other child, not reaching their fifth birthday. But for over 7 million children who die each year from preventable causes, this is a horrible reality. We at UNICEF want to make that number zero.

Something as simple as access to safe water—which we often take for granted—can keep children from going to school. Not getting an education impacts a child’s entire life, often keeping him or her caught in the ongoing cycle of poverty.

At UNICEF, it’s about measuring what works — innovating to find the simplest and most affordable solutions, partnering with governments, leveraging free market forces to the children’s advantage, doing whatever is most effective. It’s about working harder and smarter — for a day when zero children die from a preventable cause.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake recently shared his thoughts with the Financial Times about the “evidence-based revolution” in humanitarian aid, what makes aid effective, and what makes UNICEF unique in its ability to help children.

In the world of nutrition, Professor Michael Golden is something of a celebrity. He is famous for his work developing Formula 100 (F-100), which is the basis for therapeutic foods that treat malnutrition. Receiving proper nutrition is a key element for children to reach their fifth birthday.

A child’s fifth birthday is a joyful moment for most parents, a milestone marking the passage out of early childhood into the world of pre-K and grade school and upward and onward. Of course, in much of the world, the fifth birthday marks a different kind of milestone — one sometimes greeted with an entirely different sentiment: “my child survived.” That’s because in so many places, for so many beautiful children, just reaching age five alive is a battle, a battle that many don’t win — 21,000 every day, more than 7 million every year. Raising awareness about these children is a key to reaching the day when zero children die from preventable causes. That’s why we’ve partnered with USAID for a new social media campaign: “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday.” The idea: post a photo of yourself or your kids at age five. Share it. Friends can do the same and find out about the millions of children who never get a chance to celebrate being five.