Finnair and UNICEF to help children affected by AIDS in Vietnam

Finnair's and UNICEF's traditional Change for Good Christmas campaign today starts collecting funds for Vietnamese children affected by HIV-AIDS for the second year running. The campaign featured on Finnair flights will continue until 6 January 2008.

There are approximately 260,000 HIV positive people in Vietnam of whom a tenth are under 19. In eight years the number of pregnant women with the infection has increased tenfold. HIV and AIDS are estimated to affect the lives of almost 300,000 children. In AIDS work a small sum goes a long way: a vaccine that prevents a mother from passing HIV-AIDS to a child during birth costs only four euros.

"The Change for Good campaign is being organised for the 12th time this year. Although we create the means for the collection, we rely on the support of our customers in practice. Finnair wants to thank its customers for their long-term support in improving the lot of the children of the world," said Finnair SVP Corporate Communications Christer Haglund from Finnair.

Customers can contribute to the fund by filling the collection envelopes placed in seat pockets with coins or notes on most international Finnair flights with the exception of some shorter routes. Sealed envelopes can be returned to members of the cabin crew.

In 1994 and 1996 the funds from Finnair's Change for Good campaign were used for the children of war-torn Rwanda. In 1998 money went to the drug-related problems of the youth of Kaliningrad, while the youngsters of Kosovo benefited in 1999 and support was given to the children of Ethiopia in 2000. Between 2001-2005 the aim was to support the education of the young girls in Nepal. The next three years will see funds collected for HIV-AIDS work among children in Vietnam.

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