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Mozambique Lauches Its Largest AIDS Cycle Relay Ever

World Vision's AIDS Cycle Relay was launched on Thursday, September 29, in the seaside town of Pemba in northern Mozambique.

The relay is an innovative AIDS awareness-raising event that has taken place annually since 2001. This year's relay is expected to be the biggest ever held in this country. It will cover eight of Mozambique's 11 provinces, including some of the country's worst-affected HIV/AIDS areas.


2004 AIDS Cycle Relay participants make their way through Mozambique. The youth who participated in the annual World Vision awareness-raising event endured many challenging obstacles, including bad roads and hot weather. World Vision photo by Karin Pretorius.


Recent statistics show that one out of every six adults in Mozambique is infected with the virus that causes AIDS, and World Vision is actively seeking to reverse this trend by educating children and youth – the age group most at risk – in some of the remotest and poorest communities, as well as some of the largest towns, about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

In Mozambique, the event has grown in both prestige and stature to such an extent that a number of the nation's largest media outlets are covering it. It has the full support of the government through its National AIDS Council, as well as an array of nongovernmental partners.

In addition to the sports angle, the relay will feature a number of music, drama, and public events, including a large women's concert design to change public perceptions which often result in discrimination against women affected by HIV/AIDS.

The cycling event is one in a series of special events leading up to World AIDS Day on December 1.