photo by: UN Photo/Joao Araujo Pinto .
Australian actor Hugh Jackman recently visited the United Nations where he shot a public service announcement (PSA) for the Global Poverty Project’s plan to help the poorer nations of the world attain the Millennium Development Goals.
The PSA is being launched on 4 July as part of the 1.4 Billion Reasons campaign, a simple yet ground-breaking presentation that will travel the world, aiming to inspire and empower audiences in its path.
After the taping of the PSA, Jackman spoke to UNifeed and said that “as an actor, I am not an economist”, he wants answers to questions such as “how did this happen? How is it that a kid dies every three seconds from extreme poverty?” and “more importantly, what can I do?” He added that the Global Poverty Project’s presentation is clear and simple and aimed at “laymen, like me”.
Based on leading research, the 90 minute presentation states the facts on extreme poverty and demonstrates how by making simple changes everyone can be a part of the solution.
The star of films such as The Prestige, Australia and the X-Men series, said that everyone deserves “to have an education; they deserve to have health, and accommodation, and food” and that “as hard as it is right now with the global economic crisis, in a way the people who suffer most during this time are the poorest.”
The world's richest nations agreed to eight Millennium Development Goals in the year 2000 with the objective of improving the lives of the world's poorest people by 2015. Despite some gains, 1.4 billion people, mostly in South-Saharan Africa, continue to live in extreme poverty.
Jackman stated that “what happens in Africa affects us in every way - It affects the planet - in every way we need to take care and pay attention to.”
The first leg of the 1.4 Billion Reasons tour will travel across Australia and New Zealand delivering 45 presentations in 42 days.
SOURCE: UNTV/ OCHA.
