ADB, AFC and UNAIDS launch 'Protect the Goal' campaign

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has launched the 'Protect the Goal' campaign in South East Asia.

Protect the Goal, which was first launched at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, is a football-based HIV prevention program to help tackle the risk of HIV transmission among young people.

The project in South East Asia will comprise behavioural change communications with youth through mainstream and social media, using the popularity of football as a tool to deliver messages to promote health in the region, while leveraging on the support of AFC's sponsors and member associations and building partnerships with community-based or youth-led organisations for wider engagement.

Globally, an estimated 5.4 million adolescents and young people are living with HIV, and 1.8 million are eligible for HIV treatment.

Millions of young people living with HIV do not know they are living with the virus, and every day, approximately 2,100 adolescents and young people become-infected, which accounts for 36% of all new HIV infections globally.

At the launch of the campaign at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, AFC Deputy General Secretary Dato' Windsor John pledged the support of the confederation to promote the 'Protect the Goal' campaign through some of its South East Asian member associations in the region, such as Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

"We are proud to be a partner of UNAIDS and ADB in this most noble campaign which uses the popularity and power of football as the world's most popular sport to unite the world towards the goal of an AIDS-free generation," he said.

United Nations Resident Coordinator for Malaysia and United Nations Development program, Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, Michelle Gyles-McDonnough said that 12 countries account for more than 90% of new HIV infections in the region: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

"Through 'Protect the Goal', we aim at engaging with a wider range of young people and hope they will commit themselves to HIV prevention and come forward willingly for HIV testing and counselling," she said.

As football is a sport followed from a young age, the campaign's target audience are young people aged 10 to 14. Therefore, the key to the demographic is to ensure that education on the dangers of HIV and AIDS starts young.

"We have to work with governments, civil societies, affected populations, the private sector and youth communities to maximise our resources, connections and influence to continue educating everyone, especially the next generation, on the risks and preventive measures of HIV and AIDS," said ADB Senior Social Development Specialist, Dr. Susann Roth.