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ALICIA KEYS ON AFRICAN AIDS CAMPAIGN FOR KIDS

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12 APRIL 2006

Five-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys is on a private visit to Africa to follow up on her work with Keep A Child Alive, a US-based organisation also supported by Oprah Winfrey which is working to raise Aids awareness and treatment.

Surrounded by tight security as she hurried from one engagement to another to see at first-hand how the organisation's money is being spent, the R&B singer did find time to sign autographs for the crowds of eager fans who flocked to catch a glimpse of her during her swing through Kenya and Uganda.

But the 26-year-old had no comments to make to the equally eager local press, insisting that her visit was of a private nature. A doctor at the medical centre she visited in Mombasa said Alicia had been buying anti-retroviral drugs and shipping them directly to the hospital herself since 2004. Around 400 children receive the treatment free at the clinic.

The New Yorker, who was on her first visit to Kenya, also laid a foundation stone for a new Aids research centre in the same city. "I am excited and proud to see how the Keep A Child Alive project is contributing towards the fight against Aids," she said. "This building we are inaugurating today will provide hope and care to children infected with Aids."

After a few days in Kenya, Alicia then moved on to Uganda, where she's also touring clinics and care projects, for a four-day stay.