ACTUALITE |
30.11.2001
Roger Milla appointed UN AIDS ambassador
Cameroon soccer legend Roger Milla was appointed Thursday as the United Nation`s first African ambassador to spearhead the UN`s AIDS programme (UNAIDS) on the AIDS-ravaged continent./p
Milla, who scored four goals at the 1990 World Cup when Cameroon became the first African side to reach the quarter-finals, was appointed by UNAIDS deputy executive director Kathleen Cravero in the presence of UN sports ambassador and former Swiss president Adolf Ogi.
Cravero stressed that "20 years after the outbreak of the disease, millions of young people know little to nothing about AIDS" with some having "dangerous false ideas" on its transmission.
She added that a football legend such as Milla, 48, could bring correct information and the message of prevention to those who need it.
Milla, who scored at the 1994 World Cup finals aged 41, said that he was honoured by the nomination and would be undertaking travels throughout African next year in his new capacity./p
"In Africa AIDS is no longer an epidemic but a social crisis," said Milla, noting that the sexually-transmitted disease effects one in four Africans, mainly because of the social cost to families.
It is estimated that 11.8 millions young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years are infected by AIDS throughout the world of which 8.6 percent are in Africa.
In five West African countries - Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Togo - at least five percent of the population aged 15-49 has HIV or AIDS, while in 16 other sub-Saharan countries, the rate is at least 10 percent.
Milla played in three World Cup finals with Cameroon and was elected the African player of the centry by British soccer magazine Africa Soccer.
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