|
|
| CS |
Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger has led stars from the world of television and pop in a series of personal pledges to help combat Aids.
The ex-wife of the Rolling Stones rocker was among a host of celebrities who went for a spin on the London Eye to launch the Stop Aids campaign.
Personalities included actress Michelle Collins, Martin Bell and singers Beverley Knight and Joan Armatrading.
Each guest took to one of the Millennium Wheel's pods to hear first hand how HIV wrecks the lives of millions of people in developing countries.
The event came as a new report warned of a global epidemic of "biblical proportions".
The report compiled by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids, and the World Health Organisation, said the virus, which has already claimed 24 million lives worldwide, is set to surge.
It says 42 million people are now living with HIV.
Ms Jagger said: "Each and every one of us has the ability to do something to Stop Aids."
After the London Eye trip each celebrity guest made a personal pledge in answer to the question, "What will you do to Stop Aids?"
Ms Jagger pledged to commit herself to fighting sexual exploitation of children and child trafficking, Michelle Collins called for a massive advertising campaign, while Martin Bell vowed to intensify his efforts in raising awareness.
Story filed: 22:59 Tuesday 26th November 2002
Another Article
Organiser:
Stop AIDS Campaign
Location of Event:
London Eye
Contact Name:
Misha Dhanak, Christian Aid
Paul Bates, Stop AIDS Campaign,
Contact e-mail:
[email protected]
Contact Telephone:
020 7523 2404
020 7253 5860/ 07971 964770
Website Address:
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/news/media/
Event Description:
Celebrities reveal their pledges on the London Eye for the �Stop AIDS Revolution�
DATELINE � 6.30 p.m. Tuesday 26 November 2002: A host of celebrities, politicians and HIV positive campaigners from Africa and Asia will come together for the flight for a lifetime on the London Eye. The discussions that take place in the �pods� on the �Stop AIDS Revolution� could be the first step towards a turning point in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
Bianca Jagger, Michelle Collins, Gail Porter, Beverley Knight, Jonathan Dimbleby, Martin Bell and Andrew Lincoln (This Life and Teachers) will all be contributing on the night. The event itself is a result of 22 UK-based leading international development and HIV/AIDS groups uniting under one banner for the first time with one aim - to STOP AIDS.
Over 8,000 people a day die from AIDS related illnesses, the majority in the developing world. The Stop AIDS Campaign will expose the devastation this is causing and crucially will offer up stories of hope and positive solutions. It will show that public action can help turn the tide against HIV/AIDS.
In each London Eye pod celebrities, politicians, academics, faith leaders and policy-makers will hear first-hand how HIV is wrecking the lives of people in developing countries. After the �flight� everyone will make a personal pledge in answer to the question �What will you do to Stop Aids?�
After making their personal pledges, celebrities, VIPs, politicians, and others will embark onto the �Silver Sturgeon� moored at the London Eye pier for a reception to celebrate the coming together of so many campaigning groups and individuals determined to Stop AIDS.
The pledges made are not about writing a cheque � it�s about positive action � and could be as simple as wearing a red ribbon on World AIDS day to lobbying international governments to better fund the global fight against HIV.
Bianca Jagger commented: �We have to build an understanding of, and support for, HIV as a development issue that matches that of debt, famine and natural disaster. Across our world today, 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Many high profile figures will make their own personal pledges on the 26th November, but each and every one of us has the ability to do something to Stop AIDS.�
Notes to Editors:
The Stop AIDS Campaign is an unprecedented initiative of the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development. Launched on World AIDS Day 2001, the Campaign works to raise awareness in the UK about the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and campaigns for urgently scaled up international action.
Its members are: Acord, Action Aid, African HIV Policy Network, Christian Aid, CAFOD, Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, Elton John AIDS Foundation, George House Trust, HelpAge International, Help the Aged, ImpACT AIDS, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, National AIDS Trust, Oxfam, Save the Children, Students Partnership Worldwide, Tearfund, UK Network of Self Help HIV and AIDS Groups, UNICEF UK, VSO, World Vision and Youth Against AIDS.
[Edited by CS] |
|
|
| sasca |
I do like Bianca. (Although campaigns which say 'Stop X' always puzzle me. I mean, well, obviously.) |
|
|
| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
Campaigns which say 'Stop XXX' always puzzle me more 
Bianca Jagger is in the Hallowed Hall of Has-beens, whose only claim to fame is that she married Mick a long time ago and he dumped her a long time ago. She has no marketable skills, no one knows how she spends her days, she just is.
|
|
|
| Mother baby |
quote:
whose only claim to fame is that she married Mick a long time ago and he dumped her a long time ago. She has no marketable skills, no one knows how she spends her days, she just is.
Now isn't that kind of cruel way to put it?
|
|
|
| CS |
Human rights activist Bianca Jagger greets Indian children during a HIV/AIDS awareness rally in Calcutta on November 14. REUTERS/Sucheta Das |
|
|
| Fiji Joe |
Stop Aids...I'm not so sure we want to do this |
|
|
| jb |
I thought she was independently wealthy before she married him? |
|
|
| riffhard64 |
she is a SKANK |
|
|
| Mother baby |
quote:
jb wrote:
I thought she was independently wealthy before she married him?
Yeah, independently. Why dump on her? She's ok. As far as I've read Mick WAS the adulterer. (Translation....absolute power corrupts absolutely") |
|
CHAT ROOM aka THE FUN HOUSE] [
RESTROOMS]