Global football-based HIV
prevention campaign headlined by the Philippine football national
team, Azkals, targets youth at risk.
The campaign will officially be
launched in the country on June 22, 2014 during the opening of the
LoveYourself Anglo, a new free HIV testing community center along
Shaw Boulevard near Ortigas.
Protect the Goal, the
football-based HIV prevention campaign that has swept the world with
its sports-oriented approach to promoting HIV testing and safer sex
behavior, has kicked off in the Philippines.
The campaign ultimately seeks to
help lower the risk of HIV transmission among the Filipino youth,
specifically among young Filipino men. In the Philippines, 71% of new
infections since 1984 were in young people and that two-thirds of
high risk young people actually do not know their HIV status.
First launched at the 2010 FIFA
World Cup in South Africa, the campaign has since been replicated in
other Southeast Asian countries, and has now been launched in the
Philippines led by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and local
partner, the Philippine Football Federation. The campaign also draws
multi-sectoral support from partners such as the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
and advocacy group LoveYourself.
Azkals campaign
Protect the Goal hopes to reach out
to young Filipino men through football, one of the fastest-growing
sports in the country, and through role models they can look up to,
professional football players .
“Protect the Goal wants to tap
into the convening power of football and the positive influence of
the Azkals to promote HIV testing in the Philippines. Football has
grown tremendously in the Philippines for the last few years and the
AFC sees this as a good opportunity to help promote relevant causes
such as HIV prevention,” says Urs Zanitti, regional coordinator for
the Protect the Goal campaign in Asia.
“In the Philippines, most of the
people who get infected are young men and we feel that many young men
look up football players. We hope that through the example of the
Azkals, we can encourage young Filipinos to take a more proactive
stance in their health, especially in relation to HIV.”
Protect the Goal promotional
materials will be visible during Azkals games. These should help
encourage young football fans to take the HIV test through free
clinics such as the new LoveYourself Anglo community center along
Shaw Boulevard near Ortigas, or any other HIV testing centers.
Organizers partnered with
LoveYourself to launch the campaign during the opening of the
advocacy’s second community center, LoveYourself Anglo, which
provides free and confidential HIV testing and counseling services
primarily for young Filipino men. A 3-minute walk away from Starmall
in Ortigas, LoveYourself Anglo is accessible to young people living
in the center of Metro Manila who would want to take an HIV test, and
will be serviced by trained volunteer counselors and
government-funded medical professionals.
Youth at risk
ADB says the Protect the Goal
campaign comes at a critical juncture in curbing the rise of HIV/AIDS
infection among the youth in the Philippines and the region.
“While today’s generation of
young people in the region is generally healthier and better educated
than in the past, sexual and reproductive health and HIV are often
overlooked aspects of their well-being. Added to this is that
HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs often don’t reach young
people,” says Dr. Susan Roth, senior social development specialist
at ADB.
She says the Protect the Goal
campaign will increase awareness among young men on risky behavior
that will put them in danger of contracting HIV/AIDS. It will also
educate them on prevention and testing options that are available to
them.
UNAIDS says that while the world
has made great leaps in fighting the spread of HIV, certain countries
like the Philippines require special attention due to their alarming
rate of new infections.
"Globally, progress has made
in reducing the number of new HIV infections, getting people living
with HIV on treatment and reducing stigma and discrimination.
However, much still has to be done, including for the Philippines,
one of nine countries reporting a disturbing trend of over 25%
reported new infections since 2009,” says Bali Bagasao, country
director at UNAIDS Philippines.
“We welcome the partnership with
ADB and PFF to raise HIV awareness, encourage young people in
particular to commit to HIV prevention; and to underscore the need to
ensure that all people living with HIV who are eligible for
life-saving antiretroviral treatment can access it by 2015."
Bagasao says the Philippine
campaign is aligned with the Global campaign to ‘Protect the Goal’
launched by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sdibe to get to zero new
HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths,
through the power of football.
“There is something about the
sport that brings people together. Football inspires camaraderie and
teamwork. Getting a goal through in football is a huge challenge, but
it can be done if players work together as a team. This is the same
in the HIV prevention campaign. Preventing the spread of HIV is a big
challenge, but if we all work together as a team, we can protect the
goal of bringing new infections down to zero,” says Zanitti.
Positive peer influence
The campaign is also hoping to gain
traction by tapping into the deep community bonds that form the
fabric of Filipino society. Supporters who want to get involved in
the campaign can take the HIV test and then use positive peer
influence to encourage their friends to do the same.
“Young people influence each
other and we hope to influence them through messages delivered by
their peers, like the players of the national football team. If we
can get them to get tested, we can give them advice on how to protect
themselves from getting infected with HIV through the counseling
process.”
“If people get tested, they can
share their experience with their friends and peers and encourage
them to get tested as well,” says Zanitti.
About AFC
AFC is the governing body of
football in Asia. AFC and its 47 football associations in Asia care
about football but at the same time also AFC wants to use the power
of football to contribute to the social development of people. In the
Philippines, AFC works with the Philippine Football Federation (PFF)
to launch the Protect the Goal campaign and other initiatives.
About ADB
Over the past decade, ADB has
invested more than 50 million USD in projects which address the
issues of HIV/AIDS in Asia Pacific, with the focus on tackling HIV
and AIDS risks and vulnerabilities along economic corridors.
The Government of Sweden provided
around 19 million USD through the “Cooperation fund for fighting
HIV/AIDS in Asia Pacific” trust fund. The objectives were to
produce more data on the extent and nature of HIV/AIDS in Asia
Pacific, to support policy dialogue, and fund innovative solutions to
promote HIV/AIDS awareness.
ADB co-financed the Protect the
Goal campaign in the amount of 250,000 USD, guided the overall
implementation strategy, brought together NGOs with the AFC and
UNAIDS, and facilitated the partnership.
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