08 Mar 2005

LIYA KEBEDE has been named a goodwill ambassador by the UN health agency and will now set about helping the World Health Organisation in its efforts to reduce the number of women who die in childbirth every year. "Having lived in Ethiopia, I've known a lot of woman who have died in childbirth," the 26-year-old Estée Lauder model, who has a four-year-old son, told reporters. "It's almost even normal to hear that women are going to die giving birth. [But] there are actually solutions, it's not like a cancer we can't cure – we actually have treatments." The WHO estimates that half a million women die during childbirth every year, while approximately 10 children die before reaching their fifth birthday. It hopes to reduce these figures by three-quarters within the next decade. "Liya is a perfect ambassador for this issue," said the organization's chief, Dr Lee Jong-wook. "Not only is she a young woman and a working mother – she is an Ethiopian who has risen to the top of her industry. She has experienced firsthand the huge gap that exists between two very diffeent worlds and she passionately wants to use her global success and visibility to help bridge this gap." (March 8 2005, AM)