UNICEF Ambassadors Gigi Leung(R) and Charlie Young give a press conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Beijing on their return from the visit to Guizhou to help the poor Childen April 14, 2006.

BEIJING, April 16 -- Hong Kong UNICEF Committee and UNICEF Ambassadors Charlie Young and Gigi Leung gave a press conference on Friday at the Kempinski Hotel in Beijing on their return from the visit to Guizhou to help the poor Childen.

    The two Ambassadors visited a UNICEF pilot project with the Chinese Government to improve the health and nutrition of mothers, The "mother and baby package," combines a series of high-impact and cost-effective maternal and child health interventions aimed at reducing maternal and child mortality and improving development.

    The two Ambassadors spent four days in the field, seeing at first hand how project activities directly benefit mothers and their babies.

    Obstetric care and neonatal and safe delivery, care for sick children and the monitoring and promotion of child growth and development are all included in the project.

    Training is also provided on parenting and child injury prevention in the home, while wider access is promoted to essential commodities such as nutrition supplements and iodized salt.

    The field visit to Guizhou was also filmed for the purpose of raising both awareness and funding for the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF which has raised ten million US dollars for UNICEF in China over the past five years alone.

    Charlie Young said that she was moved when she met a severely malnourished five-year old girl who has little opportunity to eat eggs in her daily meals.

    Charlie brought the family eggs and cooked one for Yuanyuan. She said: "Eggs are such a common food in Hong Kong, but they brought a joyful smile to Yuanyuan that makes all the hardships of our journey worthwhile."

    Gigi Leung also said: "Coming from Hong Kong it's hard to imagine the situation of children in the poor areas of Guizhou we have visited. They look so small for their age and migration has meant that there are many single-parent families who can neither afford proper nutrition nor medical care for their children, and that's why these UNICEF projects are so vitally important".

    Guizhou is one of China's very poorest provinces with a population of over 30 million and maternal and infant mortality rates which are higher than the national average rate.

    UNICEF has been working with the Maternal and Child Health and Community Health Department of the Ministry of Health on developing a mother and child package of interventions in 50 counties in 13 provinces. The aim is to test and further develop the package for scaling-up in order to achieve a substantial reduction in Maternal and Child mortality.

    Charlie Young, a renowned artiste in Hong Kong and China, was appointed as "Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF Education Ambassador" in April 2004 and was appointed as "Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF Ambassador" in May 2005.

    Gigi Leung, a very popular singer in Hong Kong and Asia, was appointed as the "Ambassador of China Children's Health" by the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF in July 2002 to arouse public awareness on health problems faced by the children in mainland China. She was appointed as "Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF Ambassador" in May 2005.

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)