Shakira, world-famous singer-songwriter who has won two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards and five MTV Video Music Awards, has perhaps an even more remarkable—albeit lesser-known—accomplishment on her resume. She was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in October of 2003, and has worked on campaigns to protect children from violence, promote girls’ education, and has aided in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Her most impactful UNICEF endeavor yet, however, hits a bit closer to home: her ‘World Baby Shower,’ which was launched in 2013.
Shakira and her husband, FC Barcelona soccer player Gerard Piqué, founded the first World Baby Shower in partnership with UNICEF before the birth of their first son, Milan. The concept: in lieu of purchasing gifts for the expectant Shakira, shower ‘guests’ made online gift purchases through UNICEF—think measles vaccines, children’s books, soccer balls and basic family water kits—all of which directly benefit children living in poverty around the world. The first World Baby Shower was an immense success, and helped to deliver 3.8 tons of food that saved children from severe malnutrition, as well as 80,000 vaccines for polio, a highly infectious disease that mainly affects children under 5 years old and for which there is no known cure.
“Now that we are soon welcoming our second child we want to help other children around the world and also contribute to a long-lasting solution for getting children living in extreme poverty the supplies they need to survive,” Shakira has said. The couple hosted their second World Baby Shower in honor of their second child, Sasha, who was born on Jan. 29, 2015. Shakira fans and ‘guests’ of the shower can continue to purchase gifts online today at www.worldbabyshower.org. Alternatively, those interested in hosting their own World Baby Shower may join this global movement by creating an Inspired Gift Registry at http://splt.cc/shakirahostashower.
According to UNICIEF, 29,000 children under the age of five die each day, and primarily from causes that could have been avoided, such as diarrhea, malaria, and neonatal infection. The majority of these deaths—two-thirds of which occur in just 10 countries worldwide—could have been prevented by simple, low-cost and low-tech solutions, such as nutrition supplements, vaccines, antibiotics and insecticide-treated bed nets, all of which are available on the World Baby Shower’s Gift Registry. By partnering with UNICEF—the largest purchaser of vaccines—Shakira is leveraging her fame and goodwill for an incredible cause: helping to lower the nearly 11,000,000 tragic child deaths that occur each year worldwide.
– Elizabeth Nutt
Sources: UNICEF, WHO, UNICEF: World Baby Shower, Look to the Stars, Shakira
Photo: Flickr