Pro basketball player stars in new UN HIV/AIDS awareness campaign

Professional basketball player Dikembe Mutombo will be featured in a new HIV/AIDS awareness campaign sponsored by the United Nations and the National Basketball Association (NBA).

"Using condoms and not sharing needles are intelligent decisions that can help you live a longer, healthier life," Mr. Mutombo says in the public service announcement (PSA) produced by the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the NBA. "Through education we can learn more about the prevention of HIV and AIDS and together we can help stop the spread of this epidemic."

The PSA was filmed in English and French and dubbed into Portuguese and Swahili. It will be shown during NBA programming internationally and through UN television contacts. A poster, featuring Mr. Mutombo and the message "Sports. Not Drugs," will be distributed to youngsters around the world through UN field offices.

Mr. Mutombo, a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo and a special emphasis on getting his message out will take place in Africa. He also serves as a UN Development Programme (UNDP) Youth Emissary working with young people.

The PSA marks the third year of collaboration between ODCCP and the NBA. Prior media awareness campaigns featured Sacramento Kings star Vlade Divac, of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Dallas Mavericks player Eduardo Nàjera of Mexico. ODCCP and the NBA also worked together to create a camp for children from the Balkans, Basketball without Borders, in the summer of 2001.