By Tim Saunders on
Scottish actor Brian Cox was in Edinburgh earlier this week to raise awareness of the Life Change Appeal, which provides treatment to sufferers of tropical diseases.
Cox – who has appeared in films such as Braveheart, The Ring, and Rushmore – is a celebrity ambassador for Developing World Health, a charity that aims to seek partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, Institutions, hospitals and other organizations to conduct medical research on new cures or treatment approaches to tropical diseases.
According to the charity, over 60,000 people die every year from seven different tropical diseases, and the Life Change Appeal is asking everyone to donate just 50 pence to help raise £1.5m over the next five years.
“I have seen it first hand and I was shocked,” Cox told STV.tv. "I went to a village and within 20 minutes of being there I saw that 35% of them were affected by this disease which is this case was schistosomiasis, which is just one of the seven NTD that the documentary we made discovered.
“This is one village and we also saw cases of river blindness. It is something that has been systematically ignored for too long.
“50p is nothing and it can treat a kid for a year. 50p is more than a child’s pocket money. If a child gives one 50p it would save one child.”
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