Tendulkar becomes UNICEF's brand ambassador for South Asia

Recently retired cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday became first brand ambassador of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for South Asia to promote hygiene and sanitation in the region.

Tendulkar, who has been involved with the organisation for almost a decade, was named its ambassador for two years.

"I am looking forward to be an ambassador of UNICEF, and I will try to keep it with best of my abilities,' he told media here today.

Tendulkar expressed shock that a large number of children dying due to lack of hygiene.

"1600 children die everyday because of diarrhoea-infected diseases. I just want to help UNICEF make more people aware of this initiative that I am part of. It is as simple as washing your hands with soap," he said.

He enlisted dangers of not washing hands after defecation and before eating.

"By not washing your hands after defecation, allows a person to carry germs back home. That is last thing that one would want. It causes lots of harm to your health. We should share these right information's; spreading knowledge about this is very important. This will generate awareness. I must say cleaner hands is much more powerful," he added.

He said it was hard to believe that nearly one-third around the world did not have access to clean toilets.

"I was surprised to know that 36 percent of the world population don't have access to safe and clean toilets," he added.

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