United Nations Development Programme (New York) - October 29, 2003

The funds, donated on behalf of the Japanese people, are from ticket sales at a recent exhibition of the images in Kobe, Japan.

"Our involvement in A Day in the Life of Africa is about more than technology: it affords us the opportunity to make a contribution to the efforts of the African people in fighting and eventually eradicating the AIDS virus," said Masatoshi Kishimoto, Chairman and CEO of Olympus.

Olympus organized the exhibit in partnership with UNDP to focus attention on theInternational Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October, and the UNDP Poverty Eradication Awards.

UNDP is presenting the awards at the UN tonight to recognize five individuals, one from each region of the world, who are making a significant impact in support of efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"For us who love Africa this exhibition is richly rewarding," said Mrs. Nane Annan, wife of the UN Secretary-General. "We are reminded that the MDGs are far more than lofty words - they represent the difference between life and death for millions of people."

"The exhibit is a very fitting part of the United Nation's commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty through events this month in nearly 100 countries worldwide," said Ibrahim Gambari, UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Africa, who is participating in the opening on behalf of the Secretary-General. "The generous contribution from Olympus for HIV/AIDS education is a reminder that efforts to eradicate severe poverty must include those aimed at overcoming HIV/AIDS."

The funds will help an exciting new UNDP initiative, Africa 2015, to mobilize Africa's best-known musical artists, writers and other cultural leaders and sports stars to reach out to all Africans to promote "an AIDS-free generation by 2015." This is to help achieve MDG Goal 6 - halting and then reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The A Day in the Life of Africa event took place on 28 February last year, when 100 of the world's top photographers fanned out across Africa to capture, in just 24 hours, the continent's great diversity. Olympus provided digital cameras for the project, and the book it produced offers the most wide-ranging photographic look at the continent to date.

Olympus presented an exhibition of A Day in the Life of Africa in Japan during the summer in cooperation with UNDP as part of the Africa Year 2003 celebrations leading up to the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III). UNDP subsequently invited the company to bring the exhibition to the UN in New York.

For further information please contact Victor Arango, UNDP Communications Office.

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