Unite for children, unite against AIDS
Elmo Rodrigopulle in West Indies
The International Cricket Council in association with United Nations
International Children’s Emergency Fund has started a campaign ‘Unite
for children, Unite against AIDS’.
In cricket’s biggest event - World Cup 2007 - cricketers from around
the world will work together at the tournament, highlighting the
situation of children and young people affected by HIV.
The England team, including Australia’s skipper Ricky Ponting will
get involved with activities aiming to fight the stigma surrounding HIV
and AIDS, drawing attention to the issues facing young people living
with HIV and the actions needed to address them.
A study has revealed that - in the average time it takes to bowl an
over, sixteen children will lose a parent because of an AIDS-related
illness. In the time it takes to play a World Cup match, more than 1,400
babies will be born with HIV.
In the time it takes to play a World Cup match more than 1,000
Children will die of AIDS.
By the time the final over is bowled in this year’s cricket World Cup
more than 68,000 children will have become infected with HIV.
UWI to measure performance
The University of West Indies has been commissioned by the ICC CWC
West Indies Inc 2007 to measure the Caribbean regions performance in the
hosting of the ICC CWC 2007 tournament.
It is also expected that the venues holding matches would also
conduct evaluations of their performances as well.
Chris Dehring, Chief Executive Officer of the ICC CWC West Indies
Inc, said that the performance of the various host venues in staging the
world’s third largest sporting event has been a ‘mixed bag.’
Dehring also said that cost of the tickets for the matches in the
nine venues hosting the matches were too high and this was reflected in
some of the empty stands.
The reason for the high ticket prices has been adduced to the
regional governments seeking to recover their investment in the various
venues. The CEO also said that the organisation was pleased with the
support and the quality of service provided by the host venues was ‘most
surprising’.
In terms of impact, Dehring said that exiting of India and Pakistan
from the tournament would have little bearing because financially the
sponsorship has been guaranteed and tickets pre-sold.
However, in the Block ‘C’ Press Box during the Sri Lanka-West Indies,
there was the malfunctioning of the air conditioning unit where everyone
began to suffer.
Regional and foreign journalists were also inconvenienced as the
internet wireless connection was out.
Antigua, Wednesday
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