Clay Aiken – Saving The World’s Children

On July 6, 2008, CNN focused a lens on the children of the world who are in harm’s way and examined child survival issues in-depth during a global broadcast called “The Survival Project: One Child at a Time.”

Hosted by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the special focused on healthcare, education, water sanitation and protection from violence for children. UNICEF ambassador Lucy Liu and Good Charlotte musician Joel Madden joined Gupta as panelists for the program and spoke about their experiences with UNICEF.

Also featured on the program were Clay Aiken, Dayle Haddon, Ne-Yo, Nicole Ritchie, Al Roker, Marcus Samuelsson and Amare Stoudemire who all appeared in special video diaries of their volunteer experiences and encouraged viewers to help children around the world.

The CNN program highlighted four areas where UNICEF demonstrates its remarkable on-the-ground expertise in doing whatever it takes to save a child:

  • Child protection in Iraq
  • Water and sanitation in Laos
  • HIV/AIDS in Peru
  • Child survival interventions in Ethiopia

One year ago, over 2 million children, worldwide, were dead due to conflict in the last decade and over 1 million children have been orphaned.  In 2007, 1.2 million children in Iraq have been forced from their homes; there are 70,000 new widows and 14 million children in need in Iraq.  At the time of the program, UNICEF was vaccination children in Iraq against polio and measles.

Luciano Calistini is an emergency specialist and was a panelist on the show.  He reported that Iraq is one of the most difficult countries to assure safety for UNICEF staff.

The program highlighted the clean water projects in Laos.  It showed a family who had lost their 2 year old to illness because of contaminated water.  Their village now has a simple $5000 clean water tap, built by UNICEF.

According to the World Health Organization, the lack of clean water and sanitation contributes to the leading causes of death to children under 5.

Another segment of the program focused on HIV/AIDS prevention in children.  The program highlighted the country of Peru where there is a high rate of maternal to child transmission of the disease.  UNICEF is active in educating the mothers so that the infection will not be passed on.

The last part of the program was about Ethiopia which has one of the highest child mortality rates due to malnutrition.  At this time, UNICEF is training 30,000 young women to go out to the villages.  They have a device which helps them determine how malnutrition and they can tag those who need immediate help.

Because of the drought, over 6 million children are at risk.  Prices are rising and food is difficult to buy.  UNICEF is trying to help by providing a nutritional high energy peanut paste that is used as a supplement for the children.

Fans of Clay Aiken were proud that Clay was a part of this informative program.  Clay was articulate and knowledgeable about the plight of children throughout the world and helped the audience understand the role UNICEF plays in helping them.

“The Survival Project: One Child at a Time” was a chance to get a first-hand look at the plight of millions of children around the world, struggling each and every day for survival. The program urged people to find ways to help and listed many organizations that are actively working to help the children of the world.  Have you donated to UNICEF recently?

The following video shows the quick comments made by Clay on the show.  It is spliced together and jumps around.  But, it still is Clay!!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nVyHThsYs4

Clay Aiken News Network is an unofficial fansite. We are not affiliated in any way with Clay Aiken or his management. This website was made by fans for fans and makes no impression or impersonation of the official site, which can be found under the domain clayaiken.com.

11 thoughts on “Clay Aiken – Saving The World’s Children

  1. I can’t believe it has been a whole year since that program aired. So proud of Clay Aiken for being part of it. Thanks for this article.

  2. I am so proud of Clay for saying he wanted to make a difference, years ago.. He is doing exactly what he said that he wanted to do… This is a good man, who is concerned for the children of the world.

    Great article! Thanks.

    Hugs,
    Judy

  3. There are many reasons I am proud to be a Clay Aiken fan, and his work with Unicef is only one of them. Thanks for the wonderful blog.

  4. Clay Aiken is always ready to lend his voice to come to the aid of needy children around the world. That was a wonderful program….thanks for letting us revisit it through your blog!

  5. Clay Aiken is very passionate about his involvement in helping the world’s children. I am proud to be a fan of this wonderful man!

  6. This show was so informative and so well done.

    It’s sad to me that so much of our media concentrates on the tawdry when it could be doing so much good by getting the word out there about the plight the world’s children. Actually, not just children, but the human rights violations and the dire poverty that affects so many people in our world. Such a shame and such a waste.

    Thanks to Clay Aiken and UNICEF for bringing these problems to the public.

    My hope is that some day we focus on helping rather than hurting each other.

    Thank you for the article and the reminder.

  7. Clay Aiken is a wonderful caring young man who is always right there to help in any situation he can. He has made many trips in his role as Unicef Ambassador to many different countries where our help is very needed. I am so proud of him and all the people who help in the role of Unicef Ambassador.

  8. Clay Aiken is the type of man that cares for all the world’s children. He has done a great job as a UNICEF Ambassador over the years.

  9. This is what Clay Aiken is about.
    Thank you for this wonderful blog.
    I too, cannot believe it has been a year.

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