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This week The LFC Foundation launched an HIV awareness campaign in conjunction with The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). The program began with a day at the Anfield Sports and Community Center where Liverpool winger Sadio Mane was on hand to watch LFC Foundation coaches run representatives from the Malawi coaching team through various sporting drills and exercises.
Following the sports session, the LSTM team lead the attendees through a series of workshops aimed at raising awareness to the plight of HIV-infection in Malawi. The specific issues within their borders seem to be aimed at young people as those aged 15-17 are the demographic segment with the highest incidences of HIV-infection and 50% of all new reported infections occur within are segments deemed as “young people.”
The stated goal of this exchange is to leverage the popularity and brand of Liverpool Football Club behind efforts that will expand both education services surrounding HIV transmission and prevention, as well as to increase access to health services for people dealing with this disease. And, in response to the specific crisis hitting young people in Malawi, the outreach will be catered to youth so as to encourage them to seek the necessary help and services available to them.
This joint outreach is of extreme importance and Andrea Cooper, head of The LFC Foundation, echoed that in her remarks to the official site:
“This is such an exciting, progressive project for the LFC Foundation and we are delighted to be working alongside the very talented team at LSTM to deliver it.
“Using our joint expertise, we can work together to start to make a real difference in this important area and help to improve the health and life chances of young people in Malawi.”
This endeavor hews closely to the ethos of the club as one that sees its place globally, aligns with the plight of working class people, and seeks to bring some form of relief to them when able. It is You’ll Never Walk Alone made manifest.