Disney, UNICEF Plan Joint Health Project

Mickey Mouse has made children laugh for 60 years, but later this year he’s moving into a more serious business: saving them.

Walt Disney Co., Mickey’s creator, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, announced Tuesday that they will begin a pilot project in Guatemala by the end of the year using Disney characters to educate parents and children about disease and sanitation.

Details of the agreement have not been decided, and Disney representatives could not specify how much aid would be provided, but UNICEF officials said the group plans to use Disney artists and marketing knowledge.

“This is more important than money,” said UNICEF Executive Director James P. Grant. “When Mickey or Donald Duck speak, children and their parents listen.”

Most Useful Alliance

Officials hope to expand the project worldwide, eventually producing videos, comic books and audiotapes with Disney characters trumpeting UNICEF health advice. Because UNICEF spends as much as 70% of its budget on distributing information, Disney’s participation could be its most useful alliance, officials said.

Grant and Roy Disney, Walt Disney Co. vice chairman, re-dedicated Disneyland’s 25-year-old “It’s a Small World” attraction in honor of the partnership on Tuesday. Disney noted that the ride was created by the Disney Co. for the UNICEF Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Officials chose Guatemala for the first Disney-UNICEF project because it has a relatively small population but one of the world’s highest infant mortality rates.

Book to Be Interpreted

“We also picked Guatemala because it’s tough,” said Grant. “Much of the population is illiterate and there are still political murders in the country, so if we can save lives there, we can save them anywhere.”

Disney said one of the new partnership’s first projects probably will be to interpret a book UNICEF published in July for the International Assn. of Pediatricians. It details several dozen simple steps to prevent infant deaths, such as immunization and longer breast feeding.

“Starvation isn’t funny no matter how you look at it,” Disney said. “But we’ll try to get our message across in a fun way.”