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 AIDS IN AFRICA Using football to raise AIDS awareness across Africa To coincide with World AIDS Day on 1st December, a new charity has been established to raise the awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS in Africa, using football as its primary means of communication. TackleAfrica’s principle aim is to use the popularity of football in Africa to convey key AIDS/HIV messages to local communities across the continent. TackleAfrica is also delighted to announce that it will be working with the support and endorsement of Christian Aid, Concern and the Professional Footballers Association. There is no doubt about the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS situation in Africa. HIV is now the biggest killer in Africa and its toll is devastating the continent, not only through the deaths of millions each year. In 2001 more than 29.4 million people in Africa were estimated to be living with HIV and 83% of all AIDS deaths now occur in Africa. AIDS leaves millions more orphaned and unable to support themselves. Africa is now home to over 11 million AIDS orphans, 95% of the global total. HIV also wreaks havoc on the already fragile economies of many African countries, decimating the work force and causing particular upheaval amongst health workers and teachers, professions that are crucial to the development of these countries. What is perhaps most worrying about HIV/AIDS in Africa is the ignorance and misinformation that continues to prevail, despite the rapid spread of HIV. Millions across the continent are still unaware of how HIV is transmitted and prevented, and people living with HIV are often stigmatised and discriminated against. The lack of a basic infrastructure in many African countries makes it very difficult to break down the barriers of ignorance and the hardest groups to reach are those who are most at risk from HIV – specifically the young. There is no doubt about the popularity of football in Africa. From their earliest days children can be found honing their skills with whatever makeshift balls they can find – often rolls of tape, string or cloth. This enthusiasm has been reflected on the global stage, with teams from Africa competing successfully in recent world cups, perhaps most famously with Senegal’s victory over world champions France in Seoul earlier this year. At the same time the continents finest players gracing the world’s top leagues with their elusive and often unconventional skills. For the inhabitants of the world’s poorest continent, these players are more than just sporting heroes; they are cultural icons and role models who have risen through adversity to compete as equals with the best that the rest of the world has to offer. TackleAfrica intends to capitalise on the popularity of sport by running football tours around Africa, playing in matches and mini tournaments with local teams and using each of these as the focal point of HIV/AIDS awareness. The aim is to provide information to the local community about HIV/AIDS, increase HIV awareness, challenge stigma and promote acceptance of people living with HIV. In order to ensure the maximum benefit is gained from these events, TackleAfrica will work with locally based NGOs offering expertise in HIV/AIDS and a unique understanding of the specific situation in each location.  Ben Maitland, chairman of TackleAfrica, comments "From our own personal experience, we are aware of the huge popularity of football in Africa and a match between a local team and a team of Europeans will often generate a surprising amount of interest – no matter how bad the football is. TackleAfrica aims to use such interest to raise awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS and its devastating effects, particularly amongst key youth audiences, in a manner that avoids being patronising or authoritarian. We are extremely grateful for the support we have received so far and are confident that TackleAfrica will be able to make a genuine contribution in the fight against HIV in Africa" In order to maximise its benefit, TackleAfrica is working closely with international organisations such as Christian Aid and Concern, who support a large number of local partners across sub-Saharan Africa working on HIV prevention and care projects. TackleAfrica will be working with their local partners to support this work and many of the football matches will be played in conjunction with youth/young people's projects working on HIV prevention. TackleAfrica also hopes to raise considerable sums to donate to these partner organisations. It is also a specific aim of TackleAfrica to involve prominent African and European footballers in its activities – acting as patrons and endorsing the organisation’s activities and the messages it is trying to convey. Few voices will gather the attention of the key African youth audience as much as the football stars that are the continent’s most popular role models. TackleAfrica would openly welcome the support of any such footballers, whose involvement would add massive weight to the messages that the organisation is trying to convey in Africa. With this in mind, TackleAfrica has already received the endorsement of the Professional Footballers Association. TackleAfrica is now actively recruiting for its first project – starting in late September 2003. A team of 20 will play approximately 30 games over 6 months and will be involved in HIV/AIDS awareness events in a number of countries including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The cost of participating in such tours will be born by the individual team members ensuring that all the money that the organisation is able to raise will either go towards making the HIV/AIDS awareness events as successful as possible or be distributed amongst partner organisations. TackleAfrica is registered charity no 1094439  |
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