MSF HALFTIME! presents HIV Conquerors

There are six African teams in the World Cup 2010 - and another six in the HALFTIME! 5-a-side tournament planned for Friday July 2 in Johannesburg. Swaziland is one of the determined soccer teams of HalfTime! This small nation, South Africa’s nearest neighbour in the southern African region, and facing an even higher AIDS burden, lies due east of Gauteng province and its capital. The team will be bussing in to play — is this a secret motivational strategy, to bond en route via the road N17? They’re already making bold claims. Their name? “HIV Conquerors”! Their target? 15 goals in the day.  And they’ll have over a month’s regular practice under their belts. Like many of the teams they’re a band of men and women living with HIV who’ve come together for the first time, to be part of HALFTIME and contribute to the call to donors to ramp up funding for treatment for HIV/AIDS.  They’re also here to show that “being positive and living a positive life means you can do everything,” and to share their experiences with other people living with HIV/AIDS from other countries. Amongst them are also patients who have become Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff members, learning how to lead new patients along the pathway to treatment. There’re three and a half weeks to go. We look forward to welcoming these courageous Pik Kwan LEE, MSF Press Officer in South Africa

About World Cup feature World Cup feature is an internet blogging experience with first account stories of field workers and staff of  international humanitarian medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) conducted during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, from June 7th to July 14th, 2010. The main objective of World Cup feature is to provide the worldwide audience an alternate view on the first FIFA World Cup in the African soil and to share positive chronicles of the Southern African region’s struggle to fight the dual epidemics of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. World Cup feature will include narrative, still pictures and short videos coming from countries where MSF field workers provide care to people suffering from HIV and tuberculosis, from Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other places in the world. HALFTIME!, a one-day HIV positive patients soccer tournament organised by MSF in Johannesburg, South Africa on July 2nd, will also be featured. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the World Cup feature are those of the authors or the persons interviewed and can not be considered or quoted as MSF’s official position on the matters concerned.