SACHIN TENDULKAR - UNICEF'S FIRST BRAND AMBASSADOR FOR SOUTH ASIA

Indian Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on 28 November 2013 appointed as UNICEF's first brand ambassador for South Asia.

Sachin Tendulkar will work for promoting hygiene and sanitation in the South Asian region for two years. Sachin Tendulkar was already involving with the UNICEF campaigns for polio and global hand washing.

According to UNICEF, almost half the population in India defecates in the open and 681 million people practice open defecation in South Asia.

Children under five years of age are the most vulnerable to the effects of poor sanitation and annually more than half a million children in South Asia die of diarrhoea caused by unsafe drinking water, poor hygiene and lack of sanitation.

After sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia is the region with the highest number of under-five deaths, accounting for 2.3 million in 2011.

Around 39 percent of children under five are stunted in this region which is also the worst in terms of lack of toilets; over 680 million people do not use toilets.