Grassroot Soccer (GRS) is a nonprofit organization that promotes HIV/AIDS education and prevention in Africa.[1] Its slogan is "Using the Power of Soccer in the Fight Against HIV and AIDS".
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Ethan Zohn, winner of the popular television show Survivor: Africa, used the prize money to found Grassroot Soccer in 2002.[2] Along with Zohn, Tommy Clark, Methembe Ndlovu, and Kirk Friedrich, helped to found Grassroot Soccer. Grassroot Soccer focuses on a soccer-based HIV curriculum that has educated more than 350,000 youth.[3] Originally started in Zimbabwe, Grassroot Soccer has expanded to 17 countries in Africa.[4]
Grassroot Soccer has partnered with corporations and organizations such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Nike, and many others.[5] When the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced its 20 Football for Hope Centers, it chose Grassroot Soccer to run the first one, located in Khayelitsha, South Africa, a suburb of Cape Town.[6] On July 13, 2010, Grassroot Soccer announced a partnership with Women's Professional Soccer in their initiative Get Active! which aims to fight childhood obesity throughout the country.[7]
Studies by Stanford University's Children's Health Council, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Cape Town, as well as others, suggest that the GRS curriculum is very effective.[8] A study on GRS published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded, among other things, that "over 90% of the children provided positive attitude responses to the health-education programme".[9]