WHAT:   (PRODUCT) RED™ ENGAGES BUSINESS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS.   (RED) is a brand created to engage business and consumer power in the fight against AIDS in Africa.  (RED) gets the world’s most iconic companies to make unique (PRODUCT) RED-branded products and direct up to 50% of their profits to the Global Fund to invest in African AIDS programs with a focus on the health of women and children.  (RED) is not a charity or "campaign." It is an economic initiative that aims to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund.

WHEN:    (PRODUCT) RED launched in the UK March 1, 2006 and (PRODUCT) RED launches in the U.S. on October 13, 2006.

WHO:   (RED) was created by Bono (U2 singer and activist) and Bobby Shriver (Chairman of DATA – Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa). Both also founded DATA in 2002, an organization created to put political pressure on world governments to tackle the key issues surrounding debt, AIDS and trade in Africa.

PARTNERS:  UK launch partners included: American Express, Converse, Gap, Giorgio Armani and Motorola.

U.S. launch partners include: Gap, Motorola, Converse, Giorgio Armani, Apple and MTV Networks

WEB SITE:  www.joinred.com 

WHY:   Every year nearly 3 million people die from AIDS. Of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS, Africa (which has just over 10% of the world’s population) is home to 60% (25 million). The disease is the leading cause of death in Africa.

Women make up almost 60% of adults living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa and, as a result, women and children are the hardest hit by the disease.  Every time an adult begins AIDS treatment including anti-retroviral drugs, the survival of children becomes less precarious.

An estimated 12 million children in Africa have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS already and this number is growing. Almost 2000 children, most within sub-Saharan Africa, are infected with HIV each day.

Statistics:

(RED) sales in the US in the first six weeks since launch have raised enough money to:

• Provide more than 40,000 men or women with ARV treatment for a year
  (Note: These treatments are only a small portion of a person’s overall treatment and represent just one year of lifelong treatment.)*

Or

• Provide more than 2 million peer educators with HIV training*

Or

• Provide a year’s worth of school materials and daily hot meals for more than 86,000 children orphaned by AIDS*

Or

• Provide more than 1 million Rapid Tests which detect HIV and deliver instant test results.*

*Note: These are estimates based on preliminary tracking.  Actual contributions are calculated and managed on a quarterly basis.

Learn Even More about (Red):  (Red) Grants & the Global Fund || (Red) Products & Their donations.