Press stories on David Beckham |
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David meets five-year-old Senyo during his visit to a UNICEF-supported therapeutic feeding centre in the town of Makeni, Sierra Leone. Senyo is being treated for malnutrion.
© UNICEF/ HQ08-0011/David Turnley
David with his football boots, supporting the launch of a UNICEF UK Blue Peter Appeal.
© UNICEF UK/2006/Susannah Fields
Brief biography
David Beckham has supported UNICEF since his days at Manchester United. In July 2001, he travelled to Thailand with the team on their pre-season tour. There he visited the UNICEF-supported Kredtrakarn Centre, meeting children as young as five who had suffered exploitation at the hands of adults. In 2003, David, as part of the team, helped to launch the UNICEF UK ‘End Child Exploitation’ Campaign.
In January 2005, the former England football captain became a Goodwill Ambassador with a special focus on UNICEF's Sports for Development programme. David's first job as Ambassador was a visit to UNICEF’s Supply Division in Copenhagen, to see for himself the crucial work being done to aid 1.5 million children affected by the tsunami in South Asia. David then launched a global appeal to raise funds to support UNICEF's urgent humanitarian work in the region.
David has pledged his support for the current ‘Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS’ campaign and has taken part in a series of films to promote the campaign’s messages. He also captained ‘Team UNICEF’ in a special short film produced in association with MTV and FIFA. Featuring some of the World’s top football players, the film highlighted UNICEF’s 2006 FIFA World Cup theme ‘Unite for Children, Unite for Peace’.
In January 2008, David travelled to Sierra Leone, West Africa to draw attention to the issue of child survival. Every day, more than 26,000 children under the age of five die around the world, mostly from preventable causes. Figures from The State of the World’s Children 2008 Report show that in Sierra Leone 27 per cent of children die before reaching their fifth birthday, the highest number in the world.
During his visit to Makeni, Bombali District, David spent time at a health clinic learning about the most common causes of these deaths, like malaria, diarrhoea, malnutrition, as well as vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and tuberculosis. He joined two health workers as they travelled into a local community to vaccinate children who are unable to access the clinic.
At a feeding centre for severely malnourished children, David visited babies who had survived on water because their mothers were malnourished and unable to breastfeed. He saw that with supplies from UNICEF, the clinic provides the children with fortified milk and high protein biscuits, enabling them to successfully cure over 90 per cent of the children admitted.
As David said: “We can’t turn a blind eye to the tens of thousands of young children who die every day in the developing world mostly from causes that are preventable. In Sierra Leone, one in four children dies before reaching their fifth birthday – it’s shocking and tragic especially when the solutions are simple - things like vaccinations against measles or using a mosquito net to reduce the chance of getting malaria.”
Being a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF is in an important focus in David’s life. “It is one of the proudest moments of my life to be given the role of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador,” he says, “and I hope to play a part in supporting these children at their time of need.”
