Gyeonggi Province Helps Africa Deal with AIDS
(Published October 20, 2011)

– Signing of MOU for medical support with the African Future Foundation and Football Act 29
– Initiating activities to prevent AIDS in sub-Saharan regions

– Gyeonggi Province signed an MOU on preventing children in Africa from falling victim to AIDS with Football Act 29 and the Gyeonggi Province Volunteer Medical Service Team. The photo shows a medical support activity of the African Future Foundation in January. (GNews Plus)

Gyeonggi Province will help children who are exposed to AIDS in Africa as a result of their difficult living conditions.

Gyeonggi Province signed an MOU to prevent children in Africa from falling victim to AIDs and to provide medical support with the African Future Foundation, Football Act 29 and the Gyeonggi Province Volunteer Medical Service Team, which consists of five medical groups based in the province.

With the signing of the MOU, Gyeonggi Province will carry out activities to prevent AIDS and provide medical support for mothers and their children as well as for local health improvement programs, and will conduct anti-AIDS campaigns by holding soccer-based events in partnership with the African Future Foundation, Football Act 29 and the Gyeonggi Province Volunteer Medical Service Team.

Gyeonggi Province will also support the cost of free operations to treat young children suffering from heart disease, and will begin providing free medical services through the Gyeonggi Province Volunteer Medical Service Team from next February. The province will also support private medical groups in Africa by providing overseas medical support and training medical staff and Farmbank.

The province is planning to hold international medical conferences on medical advancement, including the prevention of AIDS, in February and July of 2012. The regions most severely affected by the spread of AIDS are mostly southern areas of the Sahara Desert. According to UNESCO Korea and UNAIDS, of some 15 million AIDS orphans, 12.1 million live in Central and South Africa, and 390,000 young children are infected every year. Although one child dies of AIDS every minute, only 20% of children infected with AIDS receive any AIDS treatment, which costs KRW 25,000 per child per month.

“Childhood AIDS is a big threat to Africa,” said Kim Moon-soo, the Governor of Gyeonggi Province. “I am glad that Gyeonggi Province is practicing its love for humanity and sparing no efforts in helping private organizations.”

Gyeonggi Province raised public awareness of childhood AIDS by holding a photo exhibition on AIDS prevention and soccer (photographer Gwon Sun-seop) in front of its office complex on October 19 and 20.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit African Future Foundation is trying to address disease and poverty among African people. The foundation operates clinics and training programs for medical staff in sub-Saharan nations with a poor medical infrastructure, such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Swaziland.

Football Act 29 is a non-profit organization which donated a natural grass football field to Ikhwezilethemba Elementary School of South Africa jointly with the Hong Myung-bo Scholarship Foundation and Hana Bank. The organization also supports educational programs, AIDS prevention campaigns and a program to improve school food facilities though the Children’s AIDS Center of South Africa.

– Kim Moon-soo, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, appearing together with Hwang Yeong-hee, Chairman of the African Future Foundation, and Lim Hong-se, Chairman of Football Act 29, in a ceremony to sign an MOU to prevent children in Africa from falling victim to AIDs and provide medical support. (GNews Plus)

-GNEWS PLUS News | Roh Sun-ik rohsoon45@naver.com

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201110201130477055C048&s_code=C048