Football clubs raise awareness of HIV and drug abuse

The Kyrgyz Football Federation, in conjunction with the UN children's agency UNICEF, has embarked on a unique campaign to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse through the country's extensive football coaching network. "There's so much ignorance out there about the dangers of AIDS and drugs, and we estimate that our project will have an impact on about 100,000 young people across Kyrgyzstan," Alexander Ageev, deputy head of the Kyrgyz Football Federation, told IRIN in the capital, Bishkek. The scheme, that began in March, is part of the federation's "Young Football Players against HIV/AIDS and Drug Addiction," programme. It works by bringing together football coaches and team officials - whom many young people look up to for advice - at UNICEF-sponsored education workshops. Once the coaches are educated about the health risks associated with AIDS and drug misuse, they in turn conduct informal seminars with young people during football training and on match days. "We speak to the children we work with in our soccer teams. Sometimes it's not easy as these are sensitive matters. But we tell them to pass the positive messages on to friends they play soccer with," one Bishkek coach who works with sixty 14-year-olds twice a week said. Already, two HIV prevention seminars for 60 of the country's estimated 400 soccer coaches have been conducted, one in the capital and a second in the southern city of Osh. "Some [coaches] were sceptical, saying they knew everything [about HIV and drugs], but after the two-day gatherings the very same people came to me to say how much they had learnt that they can now pass on to their teams," Ageev said. The workshops - more of which are planned for later this year - teach the dangers, but also give the soccer officials the confidence and the know-how to pass on the information in a way that young people can understand. "Football is by far the most popular participatory sport with the young in Kyrgyzstan, so this is a great vehicle for getting these positive health messages across, particularly to young teenagers," said Gulsara Osorova, a UNICEF assistant projects officer in the capital. There has been a steep rise in the reported number of HIV infections in Kyrgyzstan over the past four years, with 470 new infections in 2003, according to UNICEF figures. Unofficial figures indicate the real figure to be at least 10 times higher. Most of those infected are young male drug users, that number at least 55,000 and rising as heroin produced in neighbouring Afghanistan continues to be trafficked through Kyrgyzstan in ever growing amounts en route to Russia and Europe. Even the Kyrgyz national team is behind the campaign to inform thousands of young people involved in football about drug abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention. "We are very important role models, particularly for young men, so when they hear messages from us about keeping away from drugs and being safe with sex, that is very powerful," defender Valeriy Berezovskiy told IRIN. He recounted how awe-struck he had been as a starry-eyed young soccer hopeful when he met members of Alga - a popular Kyrgyz league club. "Those guys inspired me, now it's my turn."