Alyssa Milano: Help us fight cholera and dehydration

 ORS-myanmar.jpg
 © UNICEF/04-1334/Noorani
 MYANMAR: At a rural health center in the central Magway Division, a nurse opens a pack of UNICEF-supplied oral rehydration salts to demonstrate their preparation.

For the final 12 days of 2008, UNICEF celebrity Ambassadors and Supporters are posting daily blog entries about the impact UNICEF Inspired Gifts are having on children around the world. Alyssa Milano was appointed as a UNICEF Ambassador in 2003 and has given her wholehearted support to UNICEF in a variety of ways, including visiting with children in India and Angola to see UNICEF's work firsthand . Did you know that, out of the 25,000 children under five who die needlessly every day, 3,500 of these preventable deaths are from dehydration caused by diarrhea? Yet out of all the things that can cause a child so young to die, diarrhea is one of the very simplest and cheapest to treat. All it takes is a small packet of something called "oral rehydration salts." These simple salts are a glucose-based solution that quickly replaces lost fluids and revives children. This solution saves the lives of millions of children every year"and a sachet costs only a few pennies. For example, right now Zimbabwe is suffering from the worst outbreak of cholera"a bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea"in its modern history. Cholera is one of the most fatal illnesses known, progressing quickly from onset to death in as little as a day unless oral rehydration therapy is provided. UNICEF has developed a 120-day emergency response plan to treat and stop the spread of this deadly disease in Zimbabwe, and oral rehydration salts (sometimes called "ORS") are one of the best interventions we have to win this fight. UNICEF is currently shipping essential medicines"including ORS"to over 1,700 clinics across the country. AlyssaMilano.jpgZimbabwe is just one of the more than 150 countries where UNICEF is working to provide simple solutions like ORS, and saving children's lives. And you can help! For only $80.71 you can buy a box of 300 ORS sachets for a clinic where it's desperately needed. I am Alyssa Milano and I believe in zero. 25,000 young children die every day from preventable causes"things like dehydration, poor sanitation and lack of safe, drinkable water. UNICEF believes that number should be zero.

 ORS-myanmar.jpg
 © UNICEF/04-1334/Noorani
 MYANMAR: At a rural health center in the central Magway Division, a nurse opens a pack of UNICEF-supplied oral rehydration salts to demonstrate their preparation.

For the final 12 days of 2008, UNICEF celebrity Ambassadors and Supporters are posting daily blog entries about the impact UNICEF Inspired Gifts are having on children around the world. Alyssa Milano was appointed as a UNICEF Ambassador in 2003 and has given her wholehearted support to UNICEF in a variety of ways, including visiting with children in India and Angola to see UNICEF's work firsthand . Did you know that, out of the 25,000 children under five who die needlessly every day, 3,500 of these preventable deaths are from dehydration caused by diarrhea? Yet out of all the things that can cause a child so young to die, diarrhea is one of the very simplest and cheapest to treat. All it takes is a small packet of something called "oral rehydration salts." These simple salts are a glucose-based solution that quickly replaces lost fluids and revives children. This solution saves the lives of millions of children every year"and a sachet costs only a few pennies. For example, right now Zimbabwe is suffering from the worst outbreak of cholera"a bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea"in its modern history. Cholera is one of the most fatal illnesses known, progressing quickly from onset to death in as little as a day unless oral rehydration therapy is provided. UNICEF has developed a 120-day emergency response plan to treat and stop the spread of this deadly disease in Zimbabwe, and oral rehydration salts (sometimes called "ORS") are one of the best interventions we have to win this fight. UNICEF is currently shipping essential medicines"including ORS"to over 1,700 clinics across the country. AlyssaMilano.jpgZimbabwe is just one of the more than 150 countries where UNICEF is working to provide simple solutions like ORS, and saving children's lives. And you can help! For only $80.71 you can buy a box of 300 ORS sachets for a clinic where it's desperately needed. I am Alyssa Milano and I believe in zero. 25,000 young children die every day from preventable causes"things like dehydration, poor sanitation and lack of safe, drinkable water. UNICEF believes that number should be zero.

 ORS-myanmar.jpg
 © UNICEF/04-1334/Noorani
 MYANMAR: At a rural health center in the central Magway Division, a nurse opens a pack of UNICEF-supplied oral rehydration salts to demonstrate their preparation.

For the final 12 days of 2008, UNICEF celebrity Ambassadors and Supporters are posting daily blog entries about the impact UNICEF Inspired Gifts are having on children around the world. Alyssa Milano was appointed as a UNICEF Ambassador in 2003 and has given her wholehearted support to UNICEF in a variety of ways, including visiting with children in India and Angola to see UNICEF's work firsthand . Did you know that, out of the 25,000 children under five who die needlessly every day, 3,500 of these preventable deaths are from dehydration caused by diarrhea? Yet out of all the things that can cause a child so young to die, diarrhea is one of the very simplest and cheapest to treat. All it takes is a small packet of something called "oral rehydration salts." These simple salts are a glucose-based solution that quickly replaces lost fluids and revives children. This solution saves the lives of millions of children every year"and a sachet costs only a few pennies. For example, right now Zimbabwe is suffering from the worst outbreak of cholera"a bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea"in its modern history. Cholera is one of the most fatal illnesses known, progressing quickly from onset to death in as little as a day unless oral rehydration therapy is provided. UNICEF has developed a 120-day emergency response plan to treat and stop the spread of this deadly disease in Zimbabwe, and oral rehydration salts (sometimes called "ORS") are one of the best interventions we have to win this fight. UNICEF is currently shipping essential medicines"including ORS"to over 1,700 clinics across the country. AlyssaMilano.jpgZimbabwe is just one of the more than 150 countries where UNICEF is working to provide simple solutions like ORS, and saving children's lives. And you can help! For only $80.71 you can buy a box of 300 ORS sachets for a clinic where it's desperately needed. I am Alyssa Milano and I believe in zero. 25,000 young children die every day from preventable causes"things like dehydration, poor sanitation and lack of safe, drinkable water. UNICEF believes that number should be zero.