The Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Football Association Alimu Bah has said during the launching of the Manchester United supported HIV/AIDS campaign recently that “football does not kill but HIV/Aids kills”.
The outspoken Secretary General said “let’s use football to kill HIV/AIDS which kills people.”
He mentioned that since the awareness raising phase of the campaign he had recognized the role that football can play to educate people. “When it comes to reaching people football is the most popular sports in the world not only in Sierra Leone but when you go to the least village if you have 15 people they can play football with orange it is a football for them.”
“Using football to bring people together is much easier in the fight against HIV/AIDS because those who play the game are mostly young people. So if we can capture those young people in our fight against HIV/AIDS I think we would have gone more than half of the way.”
Bah further thanked Manchester United football club which he said is a popular club not only in Sierra Leone but the world over saying that they have started a very noble course.
What they have started here is like sowing a seed to show how we can use football to fight HIV/AIDS.
Bah maintained that “henceforth we want to ask the UNIECF, NAS, the Ministry of Health those who are responsible to use football to reach the under privileged people in the villages and towns to instead take Mohamed Kallon along to those places as a lot of people will come out in their thousands to listen to him.”
“We can also use Mohamed Bangura (Haji) who is very young to talk to his peer group about HIV/AIDS those he went to school with and those who are playing football with him now.”
He stated that as an association they too are following the campaign by passing the messages.
ADVERTISEMENT