Today is Father’s Day, and I’m with my family at our home in Los Angeles enjoying time together and looking forward to the arrival of our baby girl in just a few weeks. Being a parent is very rewarding, but as mums and dads everywhere know all too well, having kids certainly keeps you on your toes!

We’re really lucky to live in a place where we can make sure our kids are well looked after. I know that for many families around the world it is very difficult, as they live with the threat of serious diseases like malaria. This is not something that people in the UK or United States need to really think about, but in Africa it’s a daily threat to family life.

I’ve learned about malaria from my time in Sierra Leone and South Africa as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and also from my role on the Leadership Council with Malaria No More UK. It’s a privilege to support these charities that do such important work to protect vulnerable families around the world.

Having a family and expecting a new baby should be a special time to be enjoyed, but in parts of Africa the day-to-day reality is that your wife or one of your children might well catch malaria and there’s nothing you can do about it. It must be awful. No father anywhere should lose his family to malaria.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to live with this constant fear for your family, as so many dads will be doing right now. If your child does catch malaria, they’ll need lifesaving medicine quickly. This can be a real problem if you don’t have much money and the closest hospital or clinic is miles away, so you’ve got no choice but to walk there, which can take days. Although malaria is preventable and treatable, malaria during pregnancy still claims the lives of 10,000 pregnant women and 200,000 babies each year.

I’m fortunate that I can do something to help. That’s why I back Malaria No More. People need to know about the charity’s goal to help end deaths from malaria and that our support is making a difference. In the last ten years, global malaria deaths have dropped by 20 percent—this is really great news!

Simple things, like mosquito nets and malaria medicines, help save lives, and I’d encourage anyone who can to get involved in the fight against malaria this Father’s Day.