Deutsche Post World Net and UNICEF have launched a global partnership under the motto "We deliver help." The goal of the initiative is to reduce child mortality around the world. Eva Luise Köhler, patron of UNICEF Germany, and Walter Scheurle, Board Member for Personnel at Deutsche Post World Net, announced the global partnership today at a joint press conference in Berlin.

"By providing our logistics know-how, our Group can make a significant contribution to improving children's lives in disadvantaged regions around the world. A partnership with UNICEF offers an ideal platform for us to contribute to this critical goal," Walter Scheurle noted.

"Every day in communities around the world, 30,000 girls and boys under the age of five die mostly of diseases that could be prevented or treated," said UNICEF patron, Eva Luise Köhler. "Through the UN Millennium Goals the international community has committed itself to reducing child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015. I am very pleased that Deutsche Post World Net is helping UNICEF to achieve this key objective."

Together with UNICEF, Deutsche Post World Net will focus on improving medical care in regions where child mortality is high. To this end, the Group will provide its core competencies as an in-kind donation to UNICEF and also contribute additional financial support for example for projects against malaria. UNICEF's existing logistics processes will be analyzed and, if necessary, improved - for example, the storage and distribution of temperature-sensitive vaccines. The Group's 500,000 employees will also be called on to contribute to the long-term success of this partnership: They will have the opportunity to provide support through individual donations and fundraising activities or by serving as volunteers at selected UNICEF projects.

As a first step, the initiative will focus on projects in Kenya where child mortality has increased significantly over the past few years. Every eighth child there dies before its fifth birthday. DHL will support UNICEF in one of the region's largest health campaigns which is targeting measles, malaria and other infectious diseases. The express and logistics specialist will draw on its expertise and infrastructure to help distribute approximately 3.5 million mosquito nets to children around the country who are at risk of contracting malaria. A number of additional long-term measures are also planned: In the Kwale region in southern Kenya, where child mortality is particularly high, the Group and its employees will help improve primary health care and provide families with basic healthcare information.

The cooperation with UNICEF is another module of Deutsche Post World Net's long-term, strategic partnership with the United Nations, which was launched in December 2005 in the area of disaster management.

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