Prince William and Kate Middleton Make First Joint Humanitarian Engagement
Prince William and Kate Middleton embarked on their very first joint humanitarian mission today. They traveled to Copenhagen where they were greeted by the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark. The Duchess was wearing an L.K. Bennett coat and belt from Reiss with black suede knee-high boots.
The royal couples visited a Unicef famine relief depot in Copenhagen. There they tasted a special high-protein peanut paste which is being sent to malnourished children in East Africa and were briefed on the serious situation in the African region.
After their visit to the warehouse, they were taken to the airport where they toured a British Airways Boeing 747 which will leave for East Africa with 45 tons of aid and emergency medical supplies.
“We know that when children are malnourished their immune systems are weakened and they become very susceptible to life threatening diseases such as cholera and diarrhea,” said Unicef’s U.K. director David Bull. “We need to help these children urgently. The supplies being packed on this plane will help Unicef to save these children's lives.”
According to Unicef, 6.7 million children in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Dijbouti need urgent assistance. This figure includes almost 320,000 children who are in danger of dying from acute malnutrition. Thousands have already died so far.
Unicef's emergency supply centre in Copenhagen is a worldwide co-ordination centre for nutrition and other emergency supplies reaching children in crisis around the world.