Description

UNICEF correspondent Thomas Nybo reports on Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham's visit to Sierra Leone during the lead-up to the launch of The State of the World's Children 2008.

Transcript

David Beckham Visits Child Survival Programs in Sierra Leone Narrator: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham has just finished visiting Sierra Leone, a country where more than one in four children die before reaching their fifth birthday. He was travelling with UNICEF to focus attention on the issue of child survival. His visit came in the run-up to the release of UNICEF's flagship report, the State of the World's Children, which cites Sierra Leone as having the highest rate of infant mortality in the world. Beckham's first stop was a health clinic outside of Makeni. He talked with Marianna Jalloh, who just gave birth to a three-kilogram baby girl the day before. Beckham even had the honor of administering the baby's first polio drops. On Beckham's way to another stop, young fans ran alongside his vehicle snapping photos of their hero. Despite the fun, this tour had a serious purpose. Geert Cappelaere: David Beckham’s visit is important for two reasons. So one, it gives visibility to a country that has been and more for a long period of time but at this emerging from the war and that needs all the attention that it had also during the war period. It is also important for UNICEF's Global Health Agenda you know the child survival is one of the top priority of UNICEF’s in the world. Well focusing on Sierra Leone focusing on the country with the highest and the five mortality if the country with the highest maternal mortality so his visit will help also supporting our global drives to improve the health of children and women. Narrator: As Beckham witnessed, part of that help involves getting pregnant women and young children insecticide treated bed nets. Teaching proper hygiene is also crucial. Another important tool in Sierra Leone is community outreach, like in the use of this mobile nurse who delivers care to people with no way of getting to a health clinic. At the therapeutic feeding centre, Beckham met children who were devastated by severe malnutrition. Twenty-five children are treated each month, and each one has a tough story. Two-year-old Zainab showed up unable to walk. Three months later, progress has been made, but slowly. Five-year-old Foday had swallowed a chemical that scarred his throat and prevented him from eating solid food for months.