€40,000 raised to fight AIDS

OVER €40,000 raised at a UNICEF Ireland charity lunch in Dublin yesterday will be used to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS being passed on to the next generation in Africa.

“Every day nearly 2,000 children are born with HIV, because their mothers don’t get access to anti-retroviral drugs that prevent the transmission of the disease,” said UNICEF spokesperson Julieanne Savage.

“The reason we can raise so much money in one go is because the Conrad Hotel sponsors the event in its entirety,” she said.

Costing about €5 to €6, one dose given to a woman before, after or during the birth can reduce the risk of transmission of the disease by up to 66%.

Tables of 10 at the fundraiser cost €1,000.

At yesterday’s event, Irish designer Lainey Keogh donated one of her designs for a raffle which raised €15,000.

Funds raised go to support UNICEF’s programme against HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.

A full house of 270 attended the annual Mother’s Day lunch at which Falling For a Dancer actor and special guest Liam Cunningham read from Brendan Kennelly’s poem Her Face, in honour of the poet’s mother.

BBC TV Northern Ireland chat show host John Daly acted as master of ceremonies.

Another guest was Orla Tobin, who is leaving for Russia shortly on her first field trip as UNICEF national representative in her year as Rose of Tralee.