Let the Games Begin: Cricket World Cup to Bat for UN War on Hiv/Aids
New York, Mar 6 2007 2:00PM
When the top cricketers from across the planet come out to bat and bowl in the Cricket World Cup opening in the West
Indies on Sunday, they will also be taking aim at HIV/AIDS in a United Nations campaign focusing on issues facing
children and young people affected by the disease and the resources and actions needed to address them.
The International Cricket Council is teaming up with the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership, in the latest collaboration between the UN and world sports bodies, to
produce a series of public service announcements (PSAs) and other events during the seven-week- long Cup, which is
expected to draw more than 2 billion television viewers.
The public, especially young people aged 15-24, will get information on the stigma and discrimination around HIV and on
how to protect themselves against the virus.
“Young people today have never known a world without AIDS,” UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said. “Sports stars such as top cricket players can act as role models for today’s young generation and reach out to them on
AIDS issues. Sport is a force for change that can break down barriers, build self-esteem and teach life skills and
social behaviour.”
He added that by highlighting AIDS issues, the Cricket World Cup and its cricketing stars “are showing exactly the kind
of exceptional response needed for the exceptional challenge of AIDS.”
Through high profile activities around cricket’s biggest event, the Council is supporting the Unite for Children, Unite
against AIDS campaign launched in 2005 by UNICEF, UNAIDS and other partners, which is focused on ensuring antiretroviral
treatment for HIV-positive children, preventing mother-to-child transmission, promoting education programmes to help
prevent HIV transmission, and aiding children who have been orphaned by AIDS.
“Children have been the missing face of the AIDS pandemic,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said. “The
International Cricket Council will be a powerful ally in ensuring that children are at the heart of the global response
to the epidemic.”
The PSAs, each lasting 30 seconds, will be available to broadcasters free of charge. They feature leading players, including
Ricky Ponting from Australia and Rahul Dravid from India, speaking about how HIV affects children. Players and officials
from each team will wear the red and blue ribbon of the Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS campaign during their
first games and during the final. Players will also visit programmes supporting children and young people affected by
HIV.
“We hope the range of activities delivered at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 will make a difference to raising awareness
and reducing stigma around HIV in the Caribbean and across the ever-growing cricket world,” ICC President Percy Sonn
said. “By encouraging high profile players to support this campaign, we hope to be able to engage those who may
otherwise be difficult to reach.”
Cricket is popular in many of the countries most affected by AIDS, including India and South Africa. Together, these two
countries are home to around 11 million of the 40 million people estimated to be living with HIV. In the Caribbean,
where the Cup is being held, UNAIDS estimated that 250,000 people were living with HIV in 2006, 15,000 of them children
aged 0-14 years.
The ICC is being supported in the effort by the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS, a coalition of over
50 broadcasters in 23 Caribbean countries and territories.
“The exceptional reach of broadcast media in the Caribbean gives us a unique opportunity to educate audiences about how
to avoid HIV, and how to combat the stigma and discrimination that surround the disease,” the Partnership’s Steering
Committee Chair Allyson Leacock said.
The campaign is but the latest in a whole series of collaboration between UN agencies and world sport, which has seen
the likes of football legends Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane shooting against poverty, the European Swimming League in “a
race against time” to prevent deaths from unclean water, and similar initiatives with the International Rugby Board,
American football stars, marathon runners and Formula One auto racers.
ENDS