World football star David Beckham yesterday commenced his tour of the northern province of Sierra Leone as part of United Nations Children Emergency Fund, Unicef's child survival programme.
The LA Galaxy midfielder arrived late Friday on a two-day trip to a country that is still grappling with attendant adverse effects of the ten-year civil war.
Communications Officer with the UN child protection agency, Alison Parker told Concord Times late Saturday evening that the Goodwill Ambassador was in the country on hygiene promotion, supplementary feeding programme for children all in an effort to cut down on infant mortality rate in the country.
"Sierra Leone was ranked 177 out of 177 countries on infant mortality rate. This means the country is yet to effectively deal with the issue of children," she said.
Infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year. The rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.However, it seems current revelations might not in favour of the September 3, 2007 Unicef figures which showed solid progress on global child survival, including a decline in the annual number of under-five.
In Sierra Leone the mortality rates for children under five and mothers giving birth are the highest in the world, with measles, malaria, vitamin 'A' deficiency and worm infestation remaining the biggest enemies of young children.
Measles accounts for 48 per cent of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases while Malaria accounts for 33 per cent of all under-five deaths.
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