On Fathers Day 2011, David Beckham spoke out in The Sun about the impact of malaria on family life in Africa and the fact that no father should lose his child or a loved one to malaria.

David Beckham met families affected by malaria while in Sierra Leone with UNICEF

Fathers Day 2011: David Beckham speaks out in The Sun about the impact of malaria on family life in Africa and the fact that no father should lose his child or a loved one to malaria. Read his article here.

David is one of our long term supporters and a founding member of our Leadership Council along with Andy Murray. He has seen the impact of malaria for himself during visits to Sierra Leone and South Africa with UNICEF and his article today comes just before Father’s Day on 19 June, a time to appreciate Dads around the world.

As a Dad of three boys himself, David reflects on the tough reality that faces many Fathers in Africa: having to live with the constant fear that one of their children may catch a life threatening disease like malaria and how awful that must be. He also talks about the fact that malaria during pregnancy tragically claims the lives of 10,000 pregnant women and 200,000 babies each year. Every one of these deaths is totally needless given that malaria is a preventable and treatable disease.

David also draws attention to the hugely encouraging news that there has been real progress in beating malaria with a drop of over 20% in malaria deaths in the last ten years. This is a huge incentive to maintain the momentum to make malaria no more which is crucial if we are to reach the global goal of near zero deaths from malaria by 2015. We are, as always grateful to David for his support and hope you will join him and support us to help save the lives of families in Africa. Donate here.