Three months after launching its most ambitious campaign ever to reduce global infant mortality, Save the Children has begun the fundraising stage of the campaign, aiming to raise an additional £150m by 2015 for the cause.

The three-year campaign, ‘No Child Born to Die’, was launched by Save the Children in January, backed by celebrity endorsements and set out a range of goals targets related to the Millennium Development Goals on preventable child death.

The fundraising arm to the campaign has now kicked off, with direct response television commercials, online advertising and two simultaneous door drops. The DRTV ad, called ‘The Longest Journey’, began airing last week and focuses on what is needed to guide a child through the first five years of their life healthily.

At the time of launching the campaign, Save the Children said that nearly US$18bn is needed to meet the agreed Millennium Development Goals on infant mortality by 2015, but no fundraising targets for the campaign itself have yet been released.

Tanya Steele, director of fundraising at Save the Children, said: “No Child Born to Die is Save the Children’s new rallying cry to the public to help reduce the millions of needless child deaths every year.

“Launching this new campaign has been the ideal opportunity to revitalise how we talk about saving children’s lives, focusing on the critical first five years of a child’s life. Our campaign brings alive the vulnerability of all children everywhere as they take their first steps, and of the common joy felt by mothers and fathers as a child grows up,” she said.   

“Our creative will still communicate urgent need – but by painting a broader and more personal picture we aim to increase our appeal and show more of the breadth of our work.”