Unparalleled power of sport to change lives, says MEP

Sport can provide education and medication as well as contribute to life skills and establish positive values said local MEP Emma McClarkin at a conference she hosted at the European Parliament in Brussels with Nike and the charity the King Baudouin Foundation.

Through co-operation between Nike and the King Baudouin Foundation many sporting community events are established or benefited across Africa after people purchase a pair of (NIKE)RED laces to “Lace Up. Save Lives”. Nike gives 100 per cent of the profits of these red laces to the King Baudouin Foundation to distribute between the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and also African football-based community initiatives that deliver education and understanding around HIV/AIDS prevention.

After only three months of this initiative twenty-six community-based football programs across 16 African countries are set to share $450,000 to further their programmes to educate the youth on HIV/AIDS prevention through the lens of sport.

Emma McClarkin MEP, who is also the Conservative spokesperson for Sport in the European Parliament, was delighted to have the opportunity to host a conference promoting this programme in Brussels as she believes sport has an unparalleled power to be a practical and effective tool to change the world we live in for the better.

Emma McClarkin comments after the conference:

“It is incredible to see how many lives can be transformed in some of the poorest areas of Africa as the result of us buying some red shoelaces.

“Sport has the ability to capture the attention of many young people in a way that no other educational initiative can.

“Nike and the King Baudouin Foundation are harnessing this power of sport to provide medication for diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, and to educate the next generations of Africans of how to avoid disease and of the medicines available to them.

“I want to ensure that the European Union assists this programme to enable as many lives as possible to have the benefits of this initiative.”