UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham touches the hand of two-day-old Mariatsu, during a visit to the newborn’s home by community health workers in the town of Mangorea in Northern Province.
© UNICEF/ HQ08-0007/David Turnley

Every year, an estimated 9.7 million children under the age of five die from totally preventable deaths. Some are caused by illness such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria and others by malnutrition or lack of access to safe water.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham, on his first visit to the field, went to Sierra Leone, where child deaths are the highest in the world, to see for himself how UNICEF programmes are helping children to survive.

“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.” - David Beckham

Set up a regular gift online

Direct debit form to post to UNICEF

Donate online

Donate by phone on 0800 037 9797

Donate by post

• £6 can provide two long lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets, protecting familes from malaria which kills an African child every 30 seconds.
• £9 could buy 300 sachets of oral rehydration salts, which when mixed with clean water, helps children combat dehydration and diarrhoea.
• £15 could provide a bicycle to allow health workers to vaccinate children living in remote areas.
• £50 can provide 700 doses of measles vaccine, protecting children from this deadly disease.
• £100– buys ten first aid kits, containing items such as bandages, gloves, scissors, a blanket, eye ointment, and disinfectant so that anyone can treat or dress a range of minor ailments such as a cut finger, a minor burn or an eye infection.