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SA's loveLife gets US boost
27/09/2002 12:59 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Former presidents Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Bill Clinton of the United States will attend a ceremony on Saturday to celebrate the partnership between the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation in support of the loveLife initiative.
The ceremony will take place at the loveLife Y-Centre in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg. LoveLife is an HIV/Aids prevention project which targets the youth.
In a statement on Friday, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said the two men, who co-chaired the International Aids Trust, had engaged in several events in the past to fight HIV/Aids, not only in Africa, but worldwide.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation has also invited a young HIV-positive activist, who established the Pacific Islands Aids Foundation in June 2002.
"At the recent International Aids Conference in Spain, Mandela
and Clinton shared the floor during the closing ceremony,
accompanied by a young lady from French Polynesia. Maire Bopp (28), who is HIV-positive told her story: 'It can happen to any of us'.
"She exposed her story at the Pacific Islands News Association
annual meeting with her fellow journalists and, since it was the
first public exposure for the region, she drew much attention to
the problem in the Pacific Islands."
The foundation said Bopp would meet some of the role-players and activists taking part in Africa's "war" against HIV/Aids.
"They will exchange ideas and hope to find solutions for dealing with common problems with fighting HIV/Aids."
The Henry Kaiser Family
Foundation said: "In just three years, loveLife has grown to be the largest youth HIV-prevention programme in the world and has won international recognition for its innovative approach.
"Most
importantly, young South Africans are responding to loveLife with
enthusiasm. But there is still a long road ahead in effectively
curbing the impact of HIV infection."
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