While her husband President Nicolas Sarkozy had work commitments in Kuwait on Wednesday, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was fulfilling her own official duties at a medical centre in West Africa.
Although a relative newcomer to the role of high-profile humanitarian, the mum-of-one seemed a natural as she tickled the tiny feet of a baby and spent time chatting to the children's mothers at a clinic in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou.
Later in the visit, her first as ambassador for the Global Fund To Fight Aids, Tuberculosis And Malaria, she went on to meet with medical staff, further fulfilling the hands-on approach to the role she promised in December.
"What I would like to do working with the Global Fund is to communicate directly with mothers and their children," the 41-year-old declared at the end of last year. "We have to find a way to talk to them and that's why it is important to be on the ground."
Photo: Rex
Photo: Rex
