NBA Star Dikembe Mutombo Featured in New U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, UNAIDS HIV/AIDS Awareness Ads
Philadelphia 76er Dikembe Mutombo, a four-time NBA defensive player of the year, is featured in a new worldwide campaign designed to educate young people about the link between HIV/AIDS and drug use, according to a U.N. release. The campaign, sponsored by the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, UNAIDS and the NBA, features a public service announcement filmed in English and French and dubbed in Portuguese and Swahili to be aired during all international NBA broadcasts and through other U.N. television outlets. "Using condoms and not sharing needles are intelligent decisions that can help you live a longer, healthier life. Through education we can learn more about the prevention of HIV and AIDS and together we can help stop the spread of this epidemic," Mutombo, who is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, says in the ad. The campaign also produced a poster featuring Mutombo and the slogan "Sports. Not Drugs." UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot praised Mutombo's participation, saying his "stature and popularity among basketball fans make him an ideal person to carry these messages to youth, not only in his home country of Congo, but around the world" (U.N. release, 1/14).
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