Chris Gayle - file

Rodney Hinds, Sports Editor - The Voice

WEST INDIES batsman Chris Gayle is among the top cricket names who will use the World Cup t awareness of HIV and AIDS.

While winning the International Cricket Council (ICC) one-day extravaganza heads the sporting agenda for the next month, Gayle and other leading players know the importance of educating the wider population in regard to thedisease.

The World Cup, hosted by the Caribbean region for the first time, will not just be a celebration of cricket, it will also provide an ideal opportunity for the game's leading lights to showcase some of the very serious issues of the day.

In 2003, the ICC became the first international sports governing body to work with UNAIDS, the joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, educating and reducing stigma around the disease.

Since this date, major ICC events, such as the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006, have incorporated a broad range of activities, including visits by high-profile players such as Gayle and South Africa's Shaun Pollock to children living with HIV/AIDS and a pledge by all the leading captains to support the global effort to fight the disease.

Jamaican-born Gayle's star has risen over the years and he is now seen as one of the leading players in the game. Having suffered from health issues of his own in the past, he has pledged to help others.

Gayle has been touted in some quarters as a future West Indies captain with present incumbent Brian Lara in the twilight of his career.

With his profile, he understands that he can influence the public's perception of HIV/AIDS.

Throughout the tournament, player visits and information on the official World Cup website and other media sources, the ICC and its various partners hope to make a real difference, particularly to children and young people, on addressing HIV/AIDS in support of the Unite for Children, United Against AIDS campaign.

At a time when some members of the sports fraternity have been accused of not using their status and influence for the common good, it is a move in the right direction that cricket's one-day showpiece can take time out to recognise those less fortunate.

Gayle in particular has played his part in recent times in regard to endorsing good causes. The left-handed batsmen was more than happy to play in a Tsunami fund-raising match at the home of cricket - Lord's - few years ago in order to show his allegiance to those that had suffered from the disaster.

The World Cup will come and go and those in the Caribbean region hope that Lara will have his hands on the famous trophy come the day of the final, to be played at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on April 28.

But long after the last ball has been bowled and winning runs have been struck, HIV/AIDS will remain a global problem.