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HIV-positive child to witness toss in Test
BCCI will become an active participant in UNAIDS when an HIV+ child witnesses the toss in the first Test between India and New Zealand.
Indian Cricket Board will become an active participant in UNAIDS, a joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, when an HIV-positive child witnesses the spin of coin for the first Videocon cricket Test match between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad tomorrow.
Gujarat's Umesh Patel will witness when Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly tosses and his New Zealand counterpart Stephen Fleming calls the coin, according to a BCCI press release today.
Patel will represent four million HIV/AIDS-affected Indians and their fierce determination to partner with institutions- and individuals-concerned to halt the onslaught of the deadly disease.
"The BCCI has decided to implement this partnership because we realise that HIV/AIDS is a major problem in our country," BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya said about the partnership called Run Out Aids.
The public service message of AIDS awareness by cricketers can be extremely effective given the passion that this game arouses in the country, he said.
"By working with BCCI, we hope to educate young people about how to protect themselves from HIV," UNAIDS Country Programme Advisor Kenneth Wind-Anderson said.
