CNN Pressroom - Dr. Sanjay Gupta Anchors July 6 Special with UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu, Musician Joel Madden

CNN will focus a lens on the world’s children in harm’s way and examines child survival issues in-depth during its global broadcast, The Survival Project: One Child at a Time. Anchored by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the special will focus on healthcare, education, water sanitation and protection from violence for children. UNICEF ambassador Lucy Liu and Good Charlotte musician Joel Madden join Gupta as panelists for the program and speak about their experiences with UNICEF.

Following recent crises in Myanmar and China, CNN viewers moved by the devastating stories and images are looking for ways to help. In May, the month of the devastating natural disasters in both nations, the “Impact Your World” special section on CNN.com more than doubled the previous month’s page view numbers for users looking for information on how to help.

Shot in high-definition television before an audience at the Alliance Theater inside Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, The Survival Project: One Child at a Time will premiere on Sunday, July 6, at 8 p.m. and will replay at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. All times Eastern. The broadcast will be simulcast on CNN and CNN International.

Clay Aiken, Dayle Haddon, Joel Madden, Ne-Yo, Nicole Ritchie, Al Roker, Marcus Samuelsson and Amare Stoudemire appear in special video diaries of their volunteer experiences and encourage viewers to help children around the world.

For the first time since the United Nations began tracking child mortality, the number of children who die each year before their fifth birthday has dropped below 10 million. Bringing the stories of these children to CNN viewers from four continents, Gupta and international correspondents Wilf Dinnick, Jill Dougherty and Dan Rivers will brief viewers on the challenges that remain to save more lives through the innovative works of organizations such as UNICEF. The United Nations Children’s Fund operates in more than 150 countries in an effort to reduce the child mortality rate everywhere.

Gupta will report on the 1,500 children who live with HIV/AIDS in Peru, as well as those orphaned by the disease. From Laos, Rivers will report on the impact of the second largest worldwide killer of children under age five – a lack of clean drinking water. Dougherty will report from Baghdad on children who have been displaced due to war and conflict. Dinnick will report from Ethiopia on how vaccinations and nutritional supplements are saving the lives of children and pregnant women.

“CNN’s correspondents will show the challenges faced by children around the world and will offer viewers an opportunity to affect helpful change,” said Sue Bunda, executive vice president of content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide. “The global reach of our networks uniquely positions us to produce an international broadcast like this that displays the scope of the challenges that must be met.”

“As many as 9.7 million children die each year before their fifth birthday, largely due to preventable causes like measles, malaria, and diarrhea. That is 26,000 children every day," said Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “We’re extremely grateful to see the world’s top news network not only highlighting the difficulties facing children’s survival, but moreover, challenging its audience to put an end to this injustice.”

Tenisha Abernathy is the executive producer for The Survival Project: One Child at a Time.

CNN’s Impact Your World initiative is a multi-platform effort to empower its global audience to make a difference in response to stories reported online and on air. Viewers can find resources to help children around the world by visiting www.CNN.com/impact.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

For images associated with this broadcast, please visit www.turnerinfo.com

Labels: CNN Domestic, CNN International, CNN.com, CNN.com International, Impact Your World, Sanjay Gupta