Yangon, March 27 (IANS): Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) has joined FIFA's health programme "Protect the Goal" together with Myanmar National League and UNAIDS, said MFF Thursday.

The programme will create the opportunity to reduce the number of those infected with HIV among youths and educate people through the media and share experiences publicly.

Some locally famous football players -- Kyaw Ko Ko and Than Than Htwe -- will take part in the initiative, local Freedom Daily said.

The education programme on HIV will be continued by the National HIV Planning of the Ministry of Health in cooperation with Myanmar Red Cross and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The "Protect the Goal" programme is mainly designed for dealing with the HIV problem in Asian countries such as Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar.

Since 2007, Myanmar has managed to reduce the number of HIV-infected people and the spread of the disease which is particularly prominent among sex workers and drug users.