THE International Cricket Council (ICC) has dedicated Cricket World Cup 2007 to the global campaign ‘Unite for Children, Unite for AIDS’, and will today officially launch its partnership with several leading international organizations to promote the drive.

The launching of the ICC partnership with UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Caribbean Broadcasting Media Partnership on AIDS (CBMP) is billed this afternoon at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Among those slated to attend and speak are Chief Executive Officer of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the CWC 2007 event, Mr. Karan Singh; UNAIDS Country Coordinator Dr. Kathleen Israel; and UNICEF Regional Advisor on HIV/AIDS, Mr. Geoffrey Ijumba.

The ICC partnership with UNAIDS/UNICEF/CBMP is aimed at promoting the campaign in the run-up to and during the CWC tournament which will take place in Guyana and several other countries in the Caribbean from March 11 to April 28.

Through a series of high-profile activities around cricket’s biggest event, the partnership will support the ‘Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS’ campaign, launched in 2005 by UNICEF, UNAIDS and other partners, by projecting various messages around HIV/AIDS, children and young people, including HIV prevention.

It will also project messages aimed at overcoming HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination to an estimated audience of two billion people who will be viewing the CWC tournament, the world’s third largest sporting event.