SAARC GOODWILL AMBASSADOR
Runa Laila visits India on first assignment
ON her first assignment as a goodwill ambassador of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, internationally acclaimed
singer Runa Laila will leave for India tomorrow.
During the four-day programme, she will meet the Indian foreign affairs minister, home affairs minister, visit clinics and HIV centres.
Runal Laila along with leading Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan and Pakistan’s first Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy were selected as new goodwill ambassadors in April this year for the next two years with the assignment to promote awareness on HIV/AIDS.
‘I’m pleased as I’m doing something for the welfare of the people. My previous experience as the UNAIDS goodwill ambassador will help me in my current task,’ Runa Laila told New Age.
‘It’s a global trend that celebrities participate in such charity works. The SAARC secretariat has selected us to generate and increase awareness among people as there is still a lack of awareness about this deadly disease in this South Asian region,’ she added.
She further said that she will visit the SAARC countries by rotation like the other two goodwill ambassadors.
The practice of honorary appointment of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador for HIV and AIDS has been in place since 2008 as part of the work plan for the SAARC regional strategy on HIV/AIDS.
These ambassadors make interactions with children and people affected by HIV and AIDS and plea to the public to remove the social stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
Runa Laila, one of the most popular singers in the subcontinent, has some unique achievements like attaining popularity for playbacks songs simultaneously in Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani films. Her mastery over various genres of music in different languages has earned her an international recognition.
As recognition of her long career of over five decades, Runa Laila has won several prestigious awards like the Independence Day Award in 1977 and two national film awards. She has also won more than one hundred awards from various countries. Prominent among them are the
Saigal Award in India and two Nigar Awards in Pakistan.
-With New Age input
