Moscow, July 1, 2004 - "Sign AIDS Awareness Expedition"Published: 22.07.2004 |
Moscow, July 1, 2004 - "Sign AIDS Awareness
Expedition", an international AIDS awareness
partnership between Team Joachim Franz, UNAIDS and
Volkswagen, took off on 25 June and arrived in
Moscow on 1 July where the team gave a press
conference. Head of the Moscow AIDS Centre Alexei
Mazus, Deputy Head of the Public Health Department
of the Moscow Mayor’s Office Ivan Leshkevich, Head
of the PLWHA Movement ‘Shagi’ Igor Pchelin, UNAIDS
Representative in Russia Bertil Lindblad and
representatives of Volkswagen and GTZ took part in
the event.
The mountaineering team’s goal is to carry a
2.5-meter high red ribbon to the top of the summit
of Pik Pobedy (7438 m) — the highest peak in the
Tian Shan mountain range on the Kyrgyz-Chinese
border. The ribbon was "carried" by the team over
7000 kilometres from Berlin through Poland,
Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan
raising awareness about AIDS along the way.
In each city representatives of the government,
civil society and celebrities signed the red
ribbon to confirm their commitment to the fight
against HIV/AIDS.
The expedition had covered nearly 8,000 kilometres
when the Team Joachim Franz arrived in Bishkek on
7 July.
"Initiatives such as this one are essential to the
AIDS response, especially in countries where the
epidemic is still emerging and awareness is not as
high as it could be," said Dr Peter Piot,
Executive Director of UNAIDS.
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