Goaaaaaaaaal! Soccer Star Drogba Shoots for UN Millennium Development Goals

Toronto (ots/PRNewswire) - Côte d'Ivoire soccer star Didier
Drogba, currently top scorer in the English Premiership and the
European Champions League, has become the latest football great to
shoot for the United Nations. He will seek to score a different kind
of goal in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Drogba, who plays for Chelsea F.C. of the English Premier League
has been appointed United Nations Development Programme Goodwill
Ambassador. He joins soccer legends Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane in
the fight against poverty, one of the eight MDGs adopted by the UN
Millennium Summit in 2000 that seeks to slash a host of social ills
by the year 2015.

"I don't forget my origins," Drogba said at a ceremony in Geneva
yesterday. "I have been given opportunities to succeed in life, but I
constantly think about the ones who did not have this chance. We all
need to contribute to help defeat poverty."

Born in Abidjan in 1978, Drogba spent his childhood in his native
Côte d'Ivoire and his adopted country, France. He led Côte d'Ivoire
to its first-ever World Cup final in 2006.

President of CBM Prof. Allen Foster stated, "Sports celebrities
such as Didier Drogba will offer tremendous help in raising awareness
about poverty"

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 600
million people worldwide live with disabilities of various types, and
the number is increasing due to illness, trauma and lack of essential
medical services. Of this total, 80% live in low-income countries;
most are poor and have limited or no access to basic services,
including rehabilitation facilities.

CBM is the leading organisation providing services for people with
disability in low income countries of the world and promoting the
rights of people with disability. CBM is advocating for the
mainstreaming of disability issues into development policies of
Governments and other world bodies.

CBM's primary purpose is to improve the quality of life of the
world's poorest persons with disabilities and those at risk of
disability, who live in the most disadvantaged societies.

ots Originaltext: CBMI Canada
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
For further information: Lindsay O'Connor, CBM National Media &
Public Relations Manager, Toll Free: +1-800-567-2264 or
+1-905-640-6464 x 289