Gervinho, who signed the Protect the Goal campaign pledge on 8 May in Rome, committed to supporting UNAIDS’ efforts for a generation free of HIV by spreading the message on the importance of HIV prevention, particularly among young people. Credit: UNAIDS>

HE Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile signed the official Protect the goal ball in a moving ceremony in the Presidential Palace, Palacio de la Moneda, where she committed to move ahead the HIV prevention agenda. In the picture, from left to right: President of National Football Association, Sergio Jadue; Minister of Health, Helia Molina; UNAIDS Regional Director César Núñez; President of Chile HE Michel Bachelet; UNAIDS Country Director Alberto Stella; and Minister General Secretary of the Government Álvaro Elizalde.

HE Juan Manuel Santos Calderón President of Colombia, signed the official Protect the goal ball in a ceremony held at the Presiential Palace, Casa de Nariño. “Sport, as Mandela used to say, has the power to change the world and unite the planet. It is very important to link football to this campaign, to prevent HIV and teen pregnancies. Prevention is a priority, and we believe that prevention is more important and less expensive from every point of view than dealing with the consequences” he said. In the picture: President Santos signs the official ball, together with César Núñez, UNAIDS Regional Director.

Harnessing the power of sport and culture, the Protect the Goal campaign has three specific objectives: to raise awareness of HIV, to encourage young people to commit to HIV prevention and to emphasize the need to ensure that the 15 million people eligible for life-saving antiretroviral treatment can access it by 2015.

Gervinho, who signed the Protect the Goal campaign pledge on 8 May in Rome, committed to supporting UNAIDS’ efforts for a generation free of HIV by spreading the message on the importance of HIV prevention, particularly among young people. Credit: UNAIDS>

César Núñez, UNAIDS Regional Director, hands out the official Protect the goal ball to Helia Molina, Chilean Minister of Health, ahead of the presidential signing. This act was part of a vast national communication campaign organized around the objectives of the Protect the goal campaign by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNAIDS, UNFPA and several national partners which mobilized young people, celebrities, authorities, journalists and football stars to promote HIV prevention and condom use.

President Santos, during the presidential signing of the official Protect the goal ball in Casa de Nariño, shakes hands with UN Resident Coordinator Fabrizio Hochschild, in front of the Minister of Health Alejandro Gaviria and UNAIDS Regional Director César Núñez. The support to the Protect the goal Campaign in Colombia is the result of joint efforts of the UN system with the Colombian government and the Ministry of Health.

HE Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica, signed the Official PtG football in an event that counted the participation of national authorities, representatives of the national football association, football players of the national team and the team captain Bryan Ruiz. In the picture, from left to right: Secretary General of the National Football Association Joseph Ramírez, UNAIDS Regional Director César Núñez, and Vice-president of Costa Rica Ana Elena Chacon.

The UN envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, signed in Quito, Ecuador, the symbolic-ball of the campaign “Protect the Goal”, at the Regional Youth Forum for Latin America in a ceremony attended by (in the picture, from left to right) UN Resident Coordinator, Diego Zorrilla; UNFPA Representative in Ecuador, Jorge Parra; UNFPA Deputy Regional Director, Esteban Caballero; UN Women Regional Director, Moni Pizani; UNAIDS Regional Director, César Núñez; the Minister of Social Development Coordination, Cecilia Vaca.

HE Juan Orlando Hernández, President of the Republic of Honduras, signed the Official Protect the Goal Ball in a moving ceremony held at the Casa de Gobierno in Tegucigalpa, demonstrating his support for the campaign and UNAIDS’ vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths. In the picture President Hernández with Djibril Diallo, UNAIDS Senior Advisor.

In Honduras, the First Lady Ana Garcia de Hernández, signed the Protect the Goal pledge during the ceremony in solidarity with the President, UNAIDS, UNFPA and the United Nations System.

In Panama, UNAIDS, UNFPA, the National Football Association and the Ministry of Health launched the Protect the goal campaign in a press conference with the participation of national and regional mass media. The campaign raised support from the private sector, namely Cable and Wireless, major telecommunication company in Panama and GraphCom. In the picture, from left to right: Rolando González, FEPAFUT Team Manager; Oscar Aued, FEPAFUT Secretary General; Marcela Suazo, UNFPA Regional Director; Ramon Cardoze, FEPAFUT Vice-President, César Núñez, UNAIDS Regional Director, Aurelio Núñez, Director of the HIV, STD and AIDS Program of the Ministry of Health, Ernesto Lopez, Communication Manager Cable and Wireless, Jisselinde Gonzalez, UNIC Country Manager, and Yelena Rodriguez, GraphCom Panama.

HE José Alberto Mujica, President of Uruguay, signed a PtG ball together with Diego Lugano, the national team captain (in the picture) in a ceremony that counted the participation of the Minister of Health, Susana Muñiz; the President of the National Aids Commission, Leonel Briozzo, the Brazilian Ambassador, João Carlos De Souza-Gomes, the Head of Mission of the South African Embassy, Ellen Mosolwa Hajie, and UN representatives, including the Resident Coordinator, Denise Cook. In his speech, HE Mujica recognized the power of football because of its tremendous ability to reach youth.

Diego Lugano, captain of the Uruguayan team, together with President Mujica. Lugano stressed the commitment of the national team to contribute to inform young people on HIV prevention.

The Protect the Goal campaign kicked off officially in Algeria. The President of the country, HE Mr Abdelaziz Bouteflika, joined the campaign by signing the official ball.

UNAIDS senior advisor to the Executive Director, Djibril Diallo, met with various representatives of the Algerian government, including the Ministries of Youth and Sports, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and the Minister Delegate for the Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of African and Maghreb affairs, as well as UN System and US Ambassador in Algeria. They all showed their full support to the campaign.

The Minister Delegate for the Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of Maghreb and African affairs gave Mr Diallo the 'Protect the Goal' ball signed by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The captain of the national football team also signed the campaign pledge to protect fans, supporters and young people against HIV.

Civil society organizations and networks of young people and people living with HIV organized various promotional and awareness-raising activities, including HIV prevention sessions, football games and a large distribution of information brochures.

The Phnom Penh Crown Football Club supporting the campaign message “Get tested, know your status, protect yourself, be a role model and no discrimination.” Credit: Phnom Penh Crown Football Club

The Myanmar National League, the Myanmar Football Federation, national football players and UNAIDS call for HIV prevention among young people and football fans. Credit: UNAIDS

UNAIDS Myanmar Country Director Eamonn Murphy (centre) with Myanmar star football players Than Than Htwe (left) and Kyaw Ko Ko (right). Credit: UNAIDS

Far right: UNAIDS Country Director, Dr Tharcisse Barihuta joined the Galz and Goals youth league teams who participated in a penalty shoot-out prior the official launch of the Campaign by UNAIDS and the Namibia Football Association to illustrate the importance of protecting the goal. The players emphasized the need for young Namibians, especially young women, to protect themselves from HIV infection.

Led by Secretary General of the Namibia Football Association, Barry Rukoro and UNAIDS Partnership and Social Mobilization Advisor, Sarita Sehgal, the Young Gladiators and Brave Gladiators players participated in a sensitization forum and were designated as official role models and ambassadors to spread the message of the Protect the Goal campaign among their peers and fans.

The Protect the Goal campaign was integrated into the City of Windhoek’s official World AIDS Day commemoration, whereby SCORE Namibia and the Protect the Goal NFA Ambassadors led fun football inspired activities with adolescents and young people to spread the message of protection against HIV.

From left to right: Principal Secretary of Sport and Youth Development, Justin Saidi; Second Vice President of the Football Association of Malawi, Pikawo Ngalamila; UNAIDS Country Director, Amakobe Sande; Protect the Goal Ambassador, Chancy Gondwe; NAC Executive Director, Thomas Bisika; PSI Deputy Country Representative, Jephta Mtema during the official launch press conference of the UNAIDS Protect the Goal campaign at the National AIDS Commission in Lilongwe, Malawi on 13 Dec 2013.

The big Bullets FC from Blantyre bravely played in the rain to win over the Silver Strikers FC from Lilongwe on the occasion of a friendly match to launch the UNAIDS Protect the Goal Campaign. Both teams agreed to play in order to show their strong support to the campaign and encourage the youth to get tested. Promotion of condoms, prevention messages and HTC services were available to the 8000 spectators during the launch at Silver Stadium in Lilongwe on 15 December 2013.

From left to right: Aurelie Andriamialison, UNAIDS Community Mobilization Adviser, a young player representing the winning team of the Youth Tournament, and the youngest Paramount Chief, Inkosi ya Makosi Gomani V from Ntcheu attended the Protect the Goal youth tournament at Silver stadium in Lilongwe on 15 December 2013.

The Bentiu football club players showed their strong support to the UNAIDS Protect the Goal Campaign during the South Sudan Premier League tournament on 30 November 2013 at the Juba football Stadium in the South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

From Left to right: Betty Araba, UNAIDS Community Mobilization and Networking Adviser; Capt. Ezekiel Kavura, UNMISS HIV Counselor; Medhin Tsehaiu, UNAIDS Country Director – South Sudan; Mumtaz Mia, UNAIDS Strategic Intervention Adviser; Prachi Lalana Mishra, UNMISS HIV Counsellor and Patrick Sokiri Bongi, UNMISS HIV Counsellor facilitated the HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) station at Juba Stadium set up by UNAIDS in collaboration with the South Sudan Football Association and the National HIV and AIDS Commission.

In support of the UNAIDS Protect the Goal campaign, the South Sudan Football Association designated ball boys as ambassadors during the South Sudan Premier League tournament to spread the HIV prevention messages to the fans, among their peers and their families.

In support of the UNAIDS Protect the Goal campaign, over 600 young players from 32 teams took part in the one week long under-17 football tournament in 4 different locations of Kigali City. The Protect the Goal campaign was launched during the final match on 1 December 2013 to mark the commemoration of World AIDS Day.

During the tournament, over 700 people took advantage of the HIV counseling and testing sea VCT services provided by the Rwanda Biomedical Centre while a number of fans enjoyed acrobats and short dramas organized by the United Nations Country Team and national partners in Rwanda on various HIV related messages, including prevention. Kigali Hope Association, a local NGO of young people living with HIV demonstrated correct use of condoms – around 5000 condoms and 1500 leaflets on sexual reproductive health were distributed during the event.