Deutsche AIDS Stiftung holds third grand gala for charity; proceeds will go to DREAM programme in Mozambique
On 16 June last, with the motto "Amigos para siempre" (Friends Forever), the Deutsche AIDS Stiftung (a German AIDS foundation) and the Cologne Opera organized the third gala for charity, the proceeds of which will go towards supporting the DREAM programme in Mozambique. In the presence of the federal President Horst Köhler and Mrs Eva Luise Köhler, the opera night offered the large audience present an exceptional performance, a sophisticated dinner and party. The main sponsors of the evening were the Sal. Oppenheim Bank and the Deutsche Postbank AG. The performers also appeared for charity.
Before the grand gala, a delegation of the Deutsche AIDS Stiftung, composed of the organizers of the evening, Baroness Jeanne von Oppenheim, Ute Canaris and Ulrich Heide, visited the DREAM centres of Maputo and Chokwe in Mozambique. The proceeds of the gala evening will be given to the Matola 2 Centre, on the outskirts of Maputo, the first centre of the DREAM programme dedicated exclusively to prevention of vertical transmission of the virus. Here, HIV-positive, pregnant women are given complete care, receiving in particular anti-retroviral therapy to treat their infection and contextually, to protect their children from infection during the pregnancy period, delivery and breastfeeding. Thanks to the treatment, 98% of children are born healthy today. More than 3,000 children have already been born into the DREAM programme, including 1,700 in the Matola 2 centre.
The proceedings of the grand gala of the Cologne opera will enable 800 children to be born healthy over the coming three years at the Matola 2 centre, and their mothers will be able to receive treatment too.
More information about the grand gala and about the Deutsche AIDS Stiftung may be accessed at the website http://www.aids-stiftung.de