Aid reaches children by truck, plane, van, donkey and boat – whatever it takes to cover the final few miles. Every delivery starts in a warehouse and ends with a family receiving exactly what they need. The hardest part is almost always the last stretch, where roads end, bridges collapse or conflict closes the way.
Here's how Save the Children gets six very different deliveries to children – from flood-hit Nepal to a baby bank in Edinburgh – and what each one teaches us about getting help where it's needed.
The journey every delivery shares
Whatever the vehicle, every delivery follows the same five steps.
- Stock up before a crisis. Supplies are stored in warehouses so teams can move the moment something happens.
- Pack for the need. Kits are designed for a specific situation – a family that has lost its home, a child going back to school, a midwife on a river.
- Choose the fastest safe route. Sometimes that's a road. Sometimes it's a charter plane, even though it costs more.
- Cover the last mile. This is where roads run out, and where boats, donkeys and people on foot take over.
- Hand it over in person – and come back. The best deliveries build trust, and trust brings families back for the care they need.
By truck: how do you get shelter to families after a flood?
When a glacier collapsed in northern Nepal on 26 August 2026, flash floods swept away homes, schools and roads in minutes. Our team heard the news at 9am. By 9pm, a truck of relief supplies had arrived.
Trucks then left our Kathmandu warehouse daily for Nuwakot, one of the worst-hit districts. With roads damaged and bridges destroyed, journeys that normally take 10 to 45 minutes could take six to 10 hours.
Each shelter kit holds a tarpaulin, rope, blankets, mosquito nets, a gas cooker, cooking utensils, and hygiene and dignity kits. Alongside them, the team set up safe spaces where children can play, learn and begin to recover.
"Once we heard the news at 9 a.m., we started our response plan. By 9 p.m., we were here with a truck carrying relief items." – Rabin Dahal, Humanitarian Coordinator, Save the Children Nepal
Cousins Sapana* and Kala* ran for their lives when the flood hit. Read their story: The delivery that rebuilt safety
By plane: why fly medical supplies to South Sudan?
In Kapoeta, South Sudan, only around half of the area's 24 health facilities are fully operational. For some families, the nearest one is a three-day walk away.
Roads from our warehouse in Juba are often dangerous or blocked, especially in the rainy season. So supplies are loaded onto a charter plane, flown to hard-to-reach areas, then driven by 4x4 to mobile health clinics in remote communities.
"Of course, they are very expensive, but it is the quickest way of delivering services or supplies to communities that really need them." – Timothy Kalugye, Head of Supply Chain, Save the Children South Sudan
One delivery was a three-tonne shipment of antibiotics, vaccines, fortified peanut paste to treat malnutrition, and the tents and poles needed to set up a clinic. Since May 2026, 636 children with malnutrition in Kapoeta East have received lifesaving treatment through the programme.
One-year-old Lopit was one of them. Read his story: The delivery that beat the clock
By van: how do you deliver school kits in a war zone?
Children in Ukraine have endured an average of 4,000 hours of air-raid alerts – more than five and a half months. Many have barely known a normal school year, first because of COVID, then because of war.
Our team delivers backpacks filled with notebooks, pens, pencils, art supplies and a water bottle. Each backpack also has a built-in power bank and charger port.
In a conflict, every delivery is planned around risk. When the warehouse storing the kits was hit by a strike, the team had to decide whether the delivery could go ahead at all. The kits were unharmed, and they were handed out to children in an underground shelter.
"We assess the risks carefully and follow safety measures, but stopping the delivery is not an option for children." – Stanislav, Supply Chain Manager, Save the Children Ukraine
Ten-year-old Yan* was waiting for his. Read his story: The delivery that protected the future
By donkey: how do vaccines reach places with no roads?
Somalia has one of the world's highest numbers of "zero dose" children – children who have never had a single routine vaccine. In Puntland, some communities are 250 to 300 km from the nearest health facility.
Vaccines are fragile: they must stay at the right temperature for the whole journey. Health workers pack them into cold boxes, load an ambulance and drive as far as the road allows. Then they carry on by donkey, or with the cold boxes on their backs.
"If the road is inaccessible to the ambulance, we usually carry the cold boxes on our backs or use a donkey to reach people." – Anab, Lead Health Worker, Save the Children Somalia
The team returns roughly every two weeks, screening children for malnutrition as well as vaccinating them. Community mobilisers help build trust with families who have been wary of vaccines. In 2025, the programme reached more than 135,000 children, and more than 43,000 received their first ever vaccine.
Suaad* was once afraid of vaccines. Today, every child in her family is protected. Read her story: The delivery that went the extra mile
By van: why does a baby bank need a delivery driver?
Across the UK, more than 400 baby banks give families essentials like cots, prams, clothes and nappies. In 2024, they supported 219,637 families. Save the Children is one of the founding members of the Baby Bank Alliance, which helps baby banks with funding, goods, training and advocacy.
But a cot or a pram is hard to carry home on a bus. In Edinburgh, Pregnancy Counselling and Care Services (PCCS), a baby bank supported through the Alliance, is one of the few to offer a delivery service. Volunteers build a pack for each family, and driver Jordan brings it to the door.
"Within Edinburgh, I don't think that a lot of the families would even be able to afford a car to actually come and pick the stuff up." – Jordan, Delivery Driver, PCCS
Jordan covers around 700 square miles of Edinburgh and the Lothians, often visiting the same family up to four times over two years. This year, PCCS has helped 52% more families than last year.
Asia found out she was pregnant a week before starting university. Read her story: Coming soon.
By boat: how does a boat become a maternity ward?
In Gaibandha, northern Bangladesh, many families live on chars – sandbanks along three river deltas. Some can only be reached by boat at certain times of year. A third of mothers in the area give birth at home, despite the risk of deadly complications.
The Mamotar Tori is a boat funded by Save the Children, part of the Mamota project run with Bangladesh's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Midwives travel on it to give antenatal and postnatal check-ups along the river. In an emergency, it becomes a maternity ambulance, with oxygen on board.
"During the floods... the water level was waist high. However, we've managed to adapt. We now conduct satellite clinics on boats, bringing medical services directly to those in need." – Shraboni, Midwife
Through the Mamota project, more than 41,900 mothers have received antenatal care, and more than 6,000 have given birth safely in a health facility.
When Khaleda's* third labour went wrong, the boat got her to hospital in half an hour. Read her story: The delivery that saved two lives
What makes a delivery work: five lessons from six journeys
Six countries, six vehicles – but the same principles run through every delivery.
- Be ready before the crisis. In Nepal, Save the Children has six warehouses stocked with life-saving supplies, with capacity to support up to 10,000 people in a disaster.
- Design for the need, not the shelf. A shelter kit, a school backpack and a midwife's kit each solve a specific problem. In Edinburgh, every baby pack is built around one family.
- Speed can be worth the cost. Charter flights are expensive, but in South Sudan they're the quickest way to reach clinics that roads can't.
- Protect what you carry. Vaccines need an unbroken cold chain. In Ukraine, every delivery is risk-assessed before it sets off.
- Keep coming back. Health teams in Somalia return every two weeks. Jordan visits families up to four times over two years. Trust is part of the delivery.
Frequently asked questions
How does humanitarian aid reach remote areas?
Usually through a chain of transport. Trucks and planes cover long distances from a central warehouse. Then 4x4s, boats, donkeys or health workers on foot cover the last stretch, where roads run out.
How quickly can aid arrive after a disaster?
It depends on access and how close supplies are stored. After the 2026 floods in Nepal, our team had a truck of relief items on the ground within 12 hours of hearing the news.
Why use planes if they're so expensive?
When roads are blocked, flooded or unsafe, a plane can be the only fast route. In South Sudan, most services are delivered by charter flight, especially in the rainy season.
How are vaccines kept cold on long journeys?
Health workers use cold boxes, vaccine carriers and cold-chain monitoring equipment. Vaccines can be damaged if they get too warm, so keeping them at the right temperature from fridge to child is critical.
Does Save the Children deliver aid in the UK?
Yes. Save the Children helped found the Baby Bank Alliance, which supports baby banks across the UK to provide essentials for babies and young children.
Help make one more delivery that matters
This Christmas, children around the corner and around the world are waiting – not for toys or treats, but for shelter, medicine, vaccines and a safe place to learn. Together, we can get X million life-changing deliveries to children.
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