27 October 2021
1 December 2021 (World AIDS Day)
The race to support children living with HIV kicks off at the opening ceremony of the 18th European AIDS Conference held at ExCeL London. The race will end 36 days later on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan on World AIDS Day.
The aim of the race is to raise the level of public awareness and understanding around the problems faced by children and adolescents living with HIV in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Funds raised will also help to provide support for a camp for Russian-speaking children living with HIV.
The distance from London to Lake Issyk-Kul is 6864 kilometres (4265 miles). Participants are invited to raise funds by walking, running or riding their wheelchair locally. For each kilometre they register at hivrun.com the equal distance will be covered in the virtual itinarary. For each kilometre that a participant covers one euro will be added to the race’s piggy bank.
1km = 1€. If the destination is reached by the World AIDS day (1 December 2021), the total donation fund will be rounded up to a total of 10.000 euros.
Anyone can take part in the race, regardless of what country they live in. You can run, ride a wheelchair, or walk the distance anywhere. But each participant will be able to enter their result only once. Once you have walked, ran or wheeled your kilometre(s) you should pass the baton to another participant via social media or by e-mail – keeping the race going.
The more kilometres participants cover and the more people they encourage to participate in the race, the more funds will be raised to support the summer camp and increase awareness of the lives and problems of children living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
This campaign has been developed and co-organised by Life4me+ and EATG, and was made possible through grants from Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare Europe Ltd. and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. The co-organisers acknowledge that the sponsors had no control or input into the structure or the content of the initiative.
Life4me+ is an International non-governmental organization that works to prevent new cases of HIV and other STIs, hepatitis C and tuberculosis. The Life4me+ app is available in 156 countries in fifteen languages.
Life4me+ supports people living with HIV. Report cases of discrimination, stock-out in the provision of drugs, and monitor quality of medical care. It cooperates with health systems and other agencies around the world.
The European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) is a patient-led NGO that advocates for the rights and interests of people living with or affected by HIV/ AIDS and related co-infections within the WHO Europe region. Founded in 1992, the EATG is a network of more than 160 members from 45 countries in Europe. Our members are PLHIV and representatives of different communities affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections. EATG represents the diversity of more than 2.3 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Europe as well as those affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections. For more information, please visit www.eatg.org
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