Sachin Tendulkar appointed as UNICEF's first brand ambassador for South Asia

Indian Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on 28 November 2013 appointed as UNICEF's first brand ambassador for South Asia.

Sachin Tendulkar will work for promoting hygiene and sanitation in the South Asian region for two years. Sachin Tendulkar was already involving with the UNICEF campaigns for polio and global hand washing.

According to UNICEF, almost half the population in India defecates in the open and 681 million people practice open defecation in South Asia.
 
Children under five years of age are the most vulnerable to the effects of poor sanitation and annually more than half a million children in South Asia die of diarrhoea caused by unsafe drinking water, poor hygiene and lack of sanitation.

After sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia is the region with the highest number of under-five deaths, accounting for 2.3 million in 2011.

Around 39 percent of children under five are stunted in this region which is also the worst in terms of lack of toilets; over 680 million people do not use toilets.

What is UNICEF?

The United Nations Children's Fund – UNICEF (Est. 1946) - works for children's rights, their survival, development and protection, guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.
 
UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress. It is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children - victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation and those with disabilities.

UNICEF's work is carried out in more than 190 countries through country programmes and National Committees. Some 88 per cent of the organisation's approximately 7200 posts are located in the field. There are eight regional offices and 126 country offices worldwide, as well as a research centre in Florence, a supply operation in Copenhagen and offices in Tokyo and Brussels. UNICEF headquarters are in New York.

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