Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - October 23, 2000
FXB, headquartered in Lutry, Switzerland and offices in Boston, MA -- is an international Non-governmental organization. FXB will direct 100% of the funds raised to families and communities in Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa, all hard-hit by the global AIDS pandemic. The funds will support FXB's long established and successful income generating activities, apprenticeship programs, school fee support and before and after school meal programs in these countries.
FXB's unique combination of community-based humanitarian action projects are devised with community and family members who ultimately run the projects. They are anti-poverty initiatives which operate bottom-up with a holistic approach to ensure the well being of the children. Families and community members that care for orphaned children are empowered to provide for all of the child's basic needs. The AIDS crisis can no longer be viewed as just a health problem. Given the inextricable link between health and human rights -- this is a global social, economic and public health emergency.
Countess Albina du Boisrouvray, founding president of FXB said, "We are not a charity -- FXB believes in humanitarian action. We are thrilled that Renee is using her run in the NYC Marathon to support this urgent call for action. The future of Africa is at stake." UNAIDS, the U.N.'s joint agency program on HIV/AIDS estimates that there are 13 million orphaned children in Sub-Saharan Africa. By 2010 they estimate there will be as many as 42 million. FXB's research component has found there are at least 40 million children in orphaned situations already. By the end of the decade it is estimated that there will be 100 million orphaned children and children in orphaned situations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
AIDS is threatening to wipe out an entire generation of the sub-continent. Most of the children affected by this disease are NOT HIV positive. But they are growing up in conditions which make them vulnerable to contracting the virus and other diseases and to criminality, physical and sexual abuse and becoming pawns for warring factions. These children, while they represent the future of all of us, can become a destabilizing force in these countries, the effects of which will be felt profoundly throughout the developing and developed world.
The ACTION FOR ORPHANS campaign is establishing a global networking database for local and community-based groups caring for orphans to share their experiences, needs, hopes and successes. Says Albina, "We encourage the citizens of our global village Earth to sign on to this campaign and send a clear message to the children of Africa that their voices will not be ignored, their dreams will be answered, their needs responded to." FXB's GLOBAL ACTION FOR ORPHANS CAMPAIGN website is http://www.orphans.fxb.org. To pledge a donation to Renee's run and for more information call Carol DeVoe at 212-246-0202, ext. 3022.
For more information on the New York City Marathon visit http://www.nycmarathon.org.
SOURCE Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Web Site: http://www.orphans.fxb.org http://www.nycmarathon.org
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