Malawi lauds Madonna for helping orphans

The Malawi government on Tuesday applauded Madonna's efforts to put the plight of the country's AIDS orphans on the global stage and raising money to support them.

The American singer said last week she would work with luxury goods maker Gucci to raise at least $2 million for Malawi's one million orphans.

Madonna and the Italian firm will host a fundraising event with dinner, musical performance and a party on February 6 next year to mark the opening of Gucci's largest store in the world, on New York's Fifth Avenue.

"What she is doing for orphans of this country very few super stars like her can do that, she has managed to put their plight on the world stage," government spokesperson and Information Minister Patricia Kaliati told Reuters.

"Madonna has built clinics in rural areas where government has failed to reach and because of that she has saved many lives of pregnant mothers who could have died," she said.

The pop star and her husband Guy Ritchie's bid to adopt David Banda from Malawi has hit several snags since they took the 13-month-old boy from the African country last year to their home in London.

The boy had been placed in an orphanage by his father after the death of his mother. Madonna is due to return to Malawi next April for a hearing before she can permanently adopt the child.

Madonna said the charity event would benefit UNICEF and the charity she co-founded in 2006, Raising Malawi, which focuses on trying to help Malawi's orphans, many of whose parents have died of AIDS.