The OFC Champions League is the region’s premier club tournament and will see the top teams from around Oceania descend on Fiji in early April for the group stage of the competition.
Coinciding with International Day of Sport for Development and Peace as well as World Health Day 2014, for which the theme is vector-borne diseases, the OFC Champions League provides the perfect venue for UNICEF and OFC’s social responsibility department to raise awareness of dengue fever, a health issue that is reaching epidemic proportions in Fiji and other Pacific Island nations.
OFC Head of Social Development and International Relations Franck Castillo says the tournament provides an excellent forum for OFC and UNICEF to team up with Fiji’s Ministry of Health to boost the organisations’ key messages.
“Football has a strong following in Fiji and holding such a high-profile tournament provides a venue to disseminate important health and development messages,” Castillo says.
UNICEF Pacific Communication Specialist Tomas Jensen says dengue fever is a growing epidemic around the region, and particularly in Fiji and raising awareness of its effects on the local community is important.
“We have information material that’s being distributed while the games are being played. We are also involving players and organising and promoting key messages and we will have banners with key slogans,” Jensen says.
“We will stress the need for everyone to come together and make sure that the epidemic is not being spread. We will also encourage the clean up the dengue mosquito breeding grounds to jointly stop this outbreak.
“In general it’s just reinforcing what’s already going on in terms of public awareness raising in Fiji and using the Champions League as a venue in reinforcing that.”
The OFC Champions League group stage is being held in Lautoka and Ba in Fiji from 7-15 April 2014 and will see 12 club sides from around the region participate.