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England football star David Beckham has urged the world not to turn its back on "shocking and tragic" child mortality rates in developing countries.
Beckham was speaking on his return from a trip to Sierra Leone as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). What he saw in the west African country, he said, brought home the urgency of the problem.
"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," added the father-of-three. "In Sierra Leone, one in four children dies before reaching their fifth birthday - it's shocking and tragic, especially when the solutions are simple."
Measures that could be taken to tackle the problem include vaccinatiions or using a mosquito net to reduce the chances of getting malaria. "Saving these children's lives is a top priority for Unicef and, as an ambassador, I hope I can help to draw attention to this issue across the world," said the LA Galaxy star, who spent four days in Sierra Leone.
