On Aids and Soccer

An available way to fight HIV/Aids through football

by Hastings Maloya

Whether it is by design or default, most hospitals and health centres in Malawi have a football team. Different thoughts can be debated as to the relevance of a health institution to have a football team. It could be that football is such a famous or beautiful sport that many people would love to be associated with. It could also be a way for health institutions to get a mixing pleasure with communities that they serve as people come to watch a team thus carrying a name of their hospital, clinic or health centre.

The availability of teams aside, what has interested me lately is that almost all teams with thus carrying a name of a medical institution is doing very well in respective district soccer leagues through out the country. Names like Rumphi Medicals, Liwonde Medicals, Chikwawa Medicals, Salima Medicals, Mulanje Medicals and the list is endless are heard day in and day out for their impressive soccer talents in their respective district leagues.

Some of them have gone further to participate in the newly launched FAM Cup. What a feat!

Now wait a minute.

Apart from just playing soccer and registering positive results, are there no messages that these teams can carry? I have in mind the HIV/Aids pandemic thus on our midst.

It does not need to be overemphasised that soccer, despite whether it is played in urban or rural areas, attracts huge gatherings and of people from different walks of life, thus both male and females, old and young. Here is an opportunity thus being wasted. Here are people who only come to watch soccer, they talk soccer and will come again to the football ground the following week to watch soccer, talk soccer and go home.

I am certainly sure that the spectators, apart from watching soccer they could also ably listen to different messages that they could take with them back home. In this regards I have the medical teams in mind. To supplement their winning streaks , these teams must be supported to all carry messages to the people especially on the dangers of HIV/Aids and how to prevent the spread of the disease.

My call is to the National Aids Commission (NAC) to take advantage of this well established system which could prove an easy way of message delivery. One would argue that maybe there is need to develop a proposal to NAC for this noble task. I would say there is no need to do that because the teams to be used are already in the health system. It would just be an opportunity to reach more people who could not be able to get the same messages from the hospitals.

NAC should develop a deliberate policy or programme by incorporating in their system some creative people that would maximise any available opportunity like this case of soccer especially at district level. Support in any form to medical teams like uniforms with proclamation scribbled on them would go along way in message delivery.

The teams have already proved good on the field of play and there is no way they would fail to deliver to save Malawi. Most of them, in fact, have very energetic and sporty young men who may not want to be associated with failure.

Organisations like the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT) have used sports in message delivery on natural resource and environmental management and it has bore fruits. What can stop us fight Aids through sports?

The author is Treasurer for Mulanje Medicals