The killer heels that will save lives

For every child who dies of a preventable disease in an industrialized country, more than 2,000 children will die in developing countries such as Africa and India.

Save the Children have launched a new campaign to raise money to help prevent children dying from these diseases, such as pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea and measles.

‘Killer Heels to Kick out Killer Diseases’ has already seen a big interest from celebrities, with heels donated by various high-profile names such as Samantha Cameron and Sienna Miller, Nigella Lawson – as well as some fetching brogues from Jonathan Ross. Several designers and stores are also supporting the cause, including Nicola Farhi and Nicolas Kirkwood.

To coincide with the appeal, the charity is launching World Pneumonia Day on 12 November, to draw attention to the fact that it is one of the biggest killers of children under the age of five, with two million deaths last year. Statistically, more infants die of pneumonia than measles, malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.

Unlike HIV/AIDS, pneumonia is a condition with a known cure - cheap antibiotics and a vaccine against it that costs £2.50.

With the money raised from the appeal, Save the Children will be able to pass on life saving advice and treatment to new parents in developing countries to help stop needless child deaths. ‘Kangaroo Care’ is a simple method that teaches skin to skin treatment to new mothers - by holding their newborns against their chest they then regulate the baby’s temperature significantly reducing the chances of contracting pneumonia at birth.

The shoes will be auctioned on savethechildren.org.uk until 10 December and you can also take part by donating shoes to any of the 125 charity shops across the UK.