Nancy Dell'Olio with the TackleAfrica team. Photo: Christian Aid/Peter Macdiarmid
'Football is hugely popular in Africa where matches always draw big crowds and provide an opportunity to raise awareness on different HIV and AIDS-related issues.'

A football team will tour Africa for six months to promote HIV and AIDS awareness among youing people

England football team manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, his partner Nancy Dell'Olio, pop group Atomic Kitten and footballers Gareth Southgate and Lauren are among a number of celebrities backing Christian Aid and TackleAfrica in their attempt to use football to promote awareness of HIV and AIDS among young people in Africa.

The two charities are working with HIV and AIDS organisations in eleven African countries to organise football matches with clubs and schools. HIV and AIDS is Africa's biggest killer and over 40 million people worldwide are now HIV positive. In the worst affected countries in southern Africa more than one in five adults are HIV positive.

One of Christian Aid's biggest challenges is breaking down the stigma people living with HIV and AIDS face as well as helping communities understand how infection can be prevented. Football is hugely popular in Africa where matches always draw big crowds and provide an opportunity to raise awareness on different HIV and AIDS-related issues.

TackleAfrica, which was founded in May 2002, has recruited 20 young players - from students to City workers - who set off on 28 September 2003 to play their first game in Senegal. They then go on to travel by truck across the continent to play matches in ten other countries - Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - over a six month period.

"This is the kind of imaginative project which uses the power of football as a communication tool to inspire young people around the world," Nancy Dell'Olio said.

Arsenal and Cameroon international Lauren, who makes up one of the Premiership's strongest defences, has also backed the project: "I am proud to support Tackle Africa's HIV/AIDS awareness project. It is important that the children of Africa and in all countries of the world realise the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS. I hope that through the use of football we can achieve this goal and increase awareness of this problem."

Others in the football community who have lent their support Middlesbrough centre back and England international Gareth Southgate, Fulham manager Chris Coleman and former Crystal Palace manager Alan Smith.

Christian Aid is working with partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, and to care for people living with HIV as well as children orphaned because their parents have died of the disease. Christian Aid believes that poverty both fuels the spread of the HIV and AIDS epidemic and makes its impact worse and campaigns persistently to challenge the systems that keep poor people poor.

• Tackle Africa index

• Visit www.tackleafrica.org

• Christian Aid in Africa