Eto'o Promotes Health Campaign in Sierra Leone

On tour in several countries as part of a public health campaign of FIFA, Samuel Eto’o went around schools and interacted with young football fans.

Most recently, he visited Sierra Leone where he committed to help fight against Ebola in the country.

“Without health you can not do anything. We need health to become what we want in life. I want to speak to Africans and tell them it is for us to solve our problems and not others,” Eto’o said.

The football star visited the Grafton Orphanage in Freetown that houses children who lost their families during the outbreak. Eto’o has also visited several schools in Sierra Leone to promote messages of the program.

SAMUEL ETO'O BRINGS HEALTH MESSAGES TO WEST AFRICA, JUST AS SIERRA LEONE SET TO BE DECLARED EBOLA- FREE NATION pic.twitter.com/cCnhlIzT9E

— africannewsonline (@africannewz) November 7, 2015

Jiri Dvorak, the chief medical officer of FIFA accompanying Eto’o, said when football speaks everyone listens and that is the reason FIFA is using footballers to send health messages around the world.

He highlighted the objective of the Sierra Leone stage:

“The goal is to reach most schools in Sierra Leone. The process will take, around three to four years. By then, we will have helped them.In other countries where we work and where there is very remote areas like Malawi, we’re almost there. We will soon reach the last school in poverty stricken areas”

The visit comes at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Sierra Leoone Ebola free in November.

The FIFA 11 for Health campaign uses the power of football to encourage young people to adopt a healthy lifestyl and seeks to improve their knowledge and attitude towards vital health issues such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria , diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

The campaign has been conducted successfully in over 20 countries around the world since being introduced ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.