Scarlett Johansson visits Rwanda to help fight AIDS
Posted on September 17th, 2008 by Hot Momma
Scarlett Johansson took time last week from her busy schedule to try to help those in need. She just returned from her first trip to Rwanda with (RED), whose primary objective “is to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds for the Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa.”
ScarJo stayed four days and visited people and different projects benefiting from (RED) funds via the Global Fund into Rwanada. The blonde humanitarian has been supporting the fight in Rwanda against AIDS and HIV for sometime now.
She said of her trip, “It was important for me to come here and understand the issue we’re up against firsthand. It’s not until you’ve had the privilege of meeting healthcare providers who are fighting the daily battle, heard from people who are now getting antiretroviral drugs to stay alive, and met mothers whose babies are born healthy because they received treatment that stopped transmission of HIV, that you understand that we absolutely can do something to reverse the AIDS crisis in African countries.”
And while in Rwanda, ScarJo visited the Treatment Research and AIDS Clinic in Kigali where she met with doctors and patients at the facility. She also met there with Dr. Anita Asiimwe (pictured above), the Director General of TRAC, during her visit.
ScarJo then visited the Rural Health Clinic in Kabuga which provides HIV counseling and testing, as well as antiretroviral therapy.
In just two years, RED helped bring in over $22 million into Rwanda so far. For more information you can click here join (RED). The results of such projects are evident, with 5% of Rwanda’s 9 million population testing HIV positive in 2003, and in 2007 the rate was down to 3%*. It’s just nice to see celebs working for a great cause and using their celebrity for good.
Scarlett’s also making a pitch for recyclying. Playing off posters for Johansson’s upcoming comic-book thriller The Spirit, the Environmental Media Association and Lionsgate studio have created PSAs encouraging folks to recycle their used cell phones. The ads feature one of the movie’s taglines, “Answer the call!” The magazine ads, first appearing in People Magazine on Friday, will also include Johansson’s costar Eva Mendes.
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