A new video released on Tuesday, iconic footballer David Beckham is seen ‘speaking’ in Hindi, among eight other languages, supporting a campaign to end malaria which he says is “the deadliest disease there has ever been”.
WASHINGTON – A new video released on Tuesday, iconic footballer David Beckham is seen ‘speaking’ in Hindi, among eight other languages, supporting a campaign to end malaria which he says is “the deadliest disease there has ever been”.
Beckham begins the video with a brief introduction in his voice in English and then conveys the message in eight other languages through voices synced with his lip movements using artificial intelligence synthesis technology.
The 55-second video opens with Beckham speaking in English and goes on to converse fluently in Spanish, Kinyarwanda, Arabic, French, Hindi, Mandarin, Kiswahili and Yoruba.
The video is part of voice petition campaign called ‘Malaria must die, so millions can live’ that asks people around the world to contribute their voices, instead of signatures.
The eight other voices he articulates are those of malaria survivors and doctors fighting the disease.
He appears to say in Hindi: “Hamein aur adhik karravayi ki zaroorat hai (we need more action)”; the voice is of one Subhranil Banerjee, campaigners say.
Beckham, who is a founding member of the Malaria No More UK Leadership Council, says: “I have been working with Malaria No More UK for over 10 years and to be a part of this campaign and to help share some of the real stories behind malaria is really important to me”.
“It’s unacceptable that malaria still kills a child every two minutes so please add your voice to the petition.”
Organisers say the voice petition is the call to action for the next phase of the ‘Malaria Must Die’ campaign, launched by Malaria No More UK in February 2018 in the run-up to the London Malaria Summit held during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April 2018.
The Malaria Summit featured commitments worth over $4.1 billion to fight malaria and was followed by CHOGM commitment to halve malaria across the Commonwealth by 2023.
