August 20th, 2007: Oleg Gazmanov, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, encourages the people of Orenburg to unite for children and against AIDSThis August, just at the start of the new school year, the Global Campaign came to the Orenburg region (2,5 million population) in the central part of Russia, bordering to Kazakhstan. In the capital city of Orenburg as well as in the second largest town of Orsk, from 1.2% to 2.2% of the total population are known to be HIV-positive. The funding raised by the Global Campaign enabled UNICEF Russia to launch a special campaign to inform thousands of people in this region about the ways HIV affects children, and to foster friendly attitudes in community members, specifically parents and teachers, towards children living with HIV. Oleg Gazmanov, a Russian celebrity and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador is taking part in this campaign which promotes the basic right of children affected by HIV to attend ordinary pre-schools and schools together with other children. The municipality of Orenburg has provided free advertising space on street billboards for the campaign posters. As of September 1st, the Ministry of Education of the Orenburg region and municipal departments of education will start distributing the campaign booklets and cards among teachers, parents and students at all 150 schools of the three largest cities of the region. UNICEF’s partner, a regional NGO, “Youth against drugs”, will make sure that many more people in Orenburg will become familiar with the campaign’s message, through various events planned for this autumn.
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