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Press Release

19 May 2008

Hollywood actress Ashley Judd visits UK-funded aid projects in DR Congo

Ashley Judd with a young mother and her baby in Kinshasa on front of a mosquito net provided by the DFID

Hollywood actress and external websiteYouthAIDS Ambassador Ashley Judd spoke out against malaria during a visit to UK government-funded malaria programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ashley Judd said:

"If children slept safely under bed nets at night millions of lives would be saved every year. The UK’s Department for International Development has already provided three million bed nets for families in the DR Congo saving double the number of lives. Everyone in Africa should have the right to this simple, lifesaving device."

Malaria is the number one killer of children under five in the DR Congo and is caused by a single mosquito bite. More than three million bed nets from the UK’s Department for International Development are helping women and children to sleep safely at night protected from the mosquitoes carrying a disease that kills up to a million people in the country every year.

Notes to Editors

1. Ashley Judd travelled to Kinshasa in the DR Congo on a trip organised by Population Services International (PSI) who are funded by the UK Department for International Development. Attached photo courtesy of PSI.

2. DFID’s total contribution to Population Services International (PSI) globally in 2006/7 was £15.8 million. For more information about external websitePSI.

3. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) is the British government’s aid agency fighting global poverty. DFID estimates that its aid lifts three million people permanently out of poverty every year.

4. In the DR Congo, DFID is providing £17 million to PSI between 2002-2008 to fight malaria in the DR Congo.

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