UNAIDS appoints Preity Zinta as its Indian ambassador

March 12, 2010

11 Mar 2010, 1947 hrs IST, ANI

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Preity Zinta was on Thursday named the Indian

ambassador for the joint United Nations Programme on HIV-AIDS (UNAIDS).

As an ambassador, she will raise awareness on HIV prevention, treatment, care

and support, with an emphasis on women and children. Zinta is even planning to

involve her Indian Premiere League cricket team, Kings XI, in the awareness

programme.

" The team members of Kings XI, they will be involved in a public service film to

talk about HIV-AIDS. We are also in our first game with Delhi Daredevils, which

is on March 13, going to have a toss done by a person living with HIV, " Zinta

said.

" We will be doing a lot of on-ground...going and creating awareness, meeting

people living with HIV. I think this is the first step and there is lots more to

come, " she added.

She also said that awareness is also required in villages besides in the cities.

" I think although there are so many awareness programmes being done amongst the

people but something is still lacking. People need to put more efforts in the

awareness programmes, " Zinta said.

" Till now awareness programmes were conducted only in the cities but now we

shall have to conduct it in the villages and rural areas of the country as

well, " she added.

UNAIDS is a joint venture of the United Nations, bringing together the efforts

and resources of ten UN organizations to help the world prevent new HIV

infections, disseminate care for people living with HIV, and mitigate the impact

of the epidemic.

The 2006 estimates of the National Aids Control Organization (NACO) suggest that

about 2.4 million Indians are currently living with HIV.

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