Actor Sean Connery to help raise awareness of global hunger, WFP says

Actor Sean Connery, probably best known for his roles as James Bond "licensed to kill," hopes to save lives in the Christmas season with an appeal for support for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its goal of feeding 800 million chronically hungry people.

He will appear in a 30-second public service announcement (PSA), with music donated by the Blue Man Group, illustrating how WFP uses every means of transport, from ships and planes to trucks and helicopters, to cross some of the world's most hostile terrain and deliver food aid to people in need.

International broadcasters will air the videotape throughout the holiday season, at a time of giving, WFP says, adding that this year alone its food aid will reach 110 million people in 82 countries, the highest annual number in its 40-year history. Global hunger is on the rise again, having increased by 18 million persons in the second half of the 1990s, it says.

According to a UN World Health Organization (WHO) survey, conducted earlier this year, hunger and malnutrition are the world's biggest single killers, claiming more lives than cancer, or heart disease.

The other celebrities supporting WFP include Japanese jazz artist Keiko Matsui, Ethiopian singer Aster Aweke, former Rugby World Cup winners David Kirk of New Zealand and Nick Farr-Jones of Australia, who both visited WFP projects in Swaziland, and Cape Verdian singer Cesaria Evora.