Mcelhone Backs Tetanus Campaign

British actress NATASCHA MCELHONE is campaigning to wipe out deadly tetanus - after she was struck by the devastation it wreaks during a trip to Africa.

The Californication star travelled to Angola earlier this year (09) and has now thrown her weight behind a drive to vaccinate children and mothers in the republic.

She says, “I was staggered by this because I assumed tetanus wasn’t still a killer disease worldwide. (But) one newborn baby dies every four minutes from this disease, and it’s completely preventable if you’re inoculated against it.”

The actress hopes her crusade will continue the charity work undertaken by her late husband Martin Kelly, who died of a heart attack last year (08).

She adds, “It’s essential to keep all these great fires that he started going and I definitely feel… not an obligation but a sense of joy about doing that.”