UNAIDS, IOC and BOCOG jointly provide AIDS information, condoms and anti-discrimination messages to participants in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Beijing, 1st August 2008- The Beijing Olympics HIV and AIDS Campaign "Play safe - Help stop HIV" was launched today in the Chinese capital by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Dr. Jacques Rogge, the President of Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), Mr. Liu Qi, and the UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer together with Egyptian Swimmer and Member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Dr. Rania Elwani.

During an official visit of the Olympic Village the dignitaries went to the village polyclinic where 100,000 high quality condoms are available for distribution along with information on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination in English, French and Chinese. In addition, all Olympians have received a fact sheet and two AIDS video spots featuring Yao Ming, Chinese basketball star, and Michael Ballack, German footballer and UNAIDS Special Representative.

Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer (the 2nd right), UNAIDS Country Coordinator and Dr. Jacques Rogge (the 2nd left), the President of International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched the Beijing Olympic AIDS Campaign at the Polyclinic. (Photo credit: UNAIDS)

The campaign is endorsed by Olympians Rania Elwani and Yao Ming and implemented in the Olympic clinics in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong.

“Especially famous athletes can play an important role to bring across messages about HIV prevention, care and support as they are regarded as role models by young people" said IOC President Rogge during the campaign's kick-off.

The campaign does not only aim to benefit the many athletes, the members of the national delegations and the more than 100,000 volunteers supporting the Games. Through the universal language of the Olympics and its participants from every corner of the world, it seeks to amplify its key HIV and AIDS messages globally and locally.

"Olympic athletes are helping break down barriers of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV," said Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director. "They are also well placed to carry the messages across countries and cultures to inspire people to adopt behaviours that protect them against HIV," he added.

UNAIDS has been supporting the mainstreaming of messages on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination in the Beijing Olympics since September 2006, when Dr. Peter Piot addressed a group of migrant workers during an AIDS awareness activity at a construction site in Beijing. Many other activities have taken place including a tree planting initiative with people living with HIV, the training of around 6,000 Olympic volunteers, the distribution of AIDS information leaflets to 40,000 volunteers, the involvement of a person living with HIV in the Olympic torch run (in Tanzania) and the provision of technical information on HIV prevention in clinical environments to BOCOG to support the training of health services staff.