GUANGZHOU: Manchester United players joined hands on Friday evening with 11 children when they stepped onto the football field for a game with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical FC, the fourth and last game of their Asian tour.

The children, who served as mascots for Friday night's match have had their lives affected by HIV/AIDS in some way. They come from families with at least one member infected with HIV/AIDS in Guangdong and Hubei provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The children's participation in the game was part of the "Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS" campaign jointly launched by UNICEF and Manchester United, which aims to let millions of young people around the world get better informed about HIV/AIDS and to support children whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS.

According to David Gill, CEO of the globally renowned football club, the activity will help attract attention to the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and their family members, which are among the greatest obstacles to AIDS prevention and care.

UNICEF and Manchester United have been working together through the "United for UNICEF" partnership since 1999 and they have been working together to get funds to the poorest children in the hardest HIV-hit areas of Yunnan and Guangxi in Southwest China.

UNICEF China representative Yin Yin Nwe said the organization was striving to reach "over 300 million youth with the facts on AIDS".

"With the correct facts, we can eliminate fear," she added. "Fear is often the cause of discrimination."

She said that UNICEF China has prioritized support for the government's campaign on "Children, Young People and AIDS" through to the year 2010 and is working hard to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with AIDS so they can feel safe seeking government services. The Chinese government launched the campaign last September.