Soccer Icon, David Beckham is using his fame to try to make the world a better place. The goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is urging the world to pay attention to the "shocking and tragic" child mortality rates in developing countries.

Speaking on his return from a trip to Sierra Leone in West Africa, Becks said his visit has hammered home the extent of the problem. "We can't turn a blind eye to the tens of thousands of young children who die every day in the developing world mostly from causes that are preventable."

The father of Cruz, 2, Brooklyn, 8, and Romeo, 4, said in Sierra Leone, one in four children die before reaching their fifth birthday. "It's shocking and tragic especially when the solutions are simple," he lamented. These simple solutions include vaccinating against measles and using a mosquito net to reduce the chances of getting malaria.

 "Saving these children's lives is a top priority for UNICEF and as an ambassador I hope I can help to draw attention to this issue across the world," said the LA Galaxy star.

According to UNICEF, more than 26,000 children under the age of five die every day around the world, mostly from preventable causes and in the developing world. In Sierra Leone, 27 percent of children die before reaching their fifth birthday, the highest figure in the world, according to a UNICEF report released Tuesday: The State of the World's Children (SOWC) 2008.

[Yahoo]