Take part in Shakira’s online baby shower for UNICEF

World-famous singer-songwriter and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Shakira and partner FB Barcelona star Gerard Piqué, are inviting friends and fans to join their online baby shower to help UNICEF raise awareness and money for some of the world’s most vulnerable babies.

As the couple are expecting their first child they’ve decided to share the excitement using innovative social media tools to involve their fans. The online baby shower invites guests in to Shakira and Gerard’s virtual living room on the UNICEF website to learn about issues of child survival in developing countries. Guests are also able to buy an “Inspired Gift” to help give babies around the world a healthy start to life.

“To celebrate the arrival of our first child, we hope that, in his name, other less privileged children in the world can have their basic needs covered through gifts and donations,” reads the invitation from Shakira and Gerard. “Thank you for sharing this unforgettable moment with us.”

The Inspired Gifts are recommended donations of £7, £31 or £69 from the UK and come with a personal thank you message from the couple. The donations will buy mosquito nets to ensure a sleeping child is safe from malaria; polio vaccines for 17 children and baby-weighing scales to monitor growth. Higher donations will buy life-saving Therapeutic Food, which is a peanut-based paste that can save the life of an acutely malnourished child.

“Every expectant parent around the world shares all the same hopes and dreams for their children that we do,” says Shakira, “Yet many don’t share the same opportunities. Together we know that we can change that.’

Malnutrition is a constant threat to children in many regions of the world and contributes to half of all child deaths. Some 19,000 children under the age of five still die globally every day from largely preventable causes. The Inspired Gifts, given in this unique way, will undoubtedly help save more lives. Under-five mortality has dropped from nearly 12 million in 1990 to less than 6.9 million in 2011. But much more can be done, and innovative projects like Shakira and Gerard’s virtual baby shower with UNICEF will contribute to reducing unacceptably high levels of child mortality.

Hollie Bracciale
Photos: Jaume Laiguana

Visit Shakira and Gerard Piqué’s Virtual Baby Shower here and watch their video plea: