(Product)RED: A new initiative to bring corporate support to the Global Fund

[Guest guest]

From: Tom Hart [mailto:Tom@...] Subject: Red: A new initiative to bring corporate support to the Global Fund

I wanted to share some info with everyone about a project that Bono and DATA's Chairman Bobby Shriver have been working on to bring more support from corporations to the Global Fund. It will be announced tomorrow in Davos. Wanted to give you all a heads up. It's not a DATA project, although we are excited that it will complement the advocacy we all do for the Global Fund.

More info attached and below .

Thanks

<<RED Fact Sheet.doc>>

Tom Hart Deputy Director DATA 1400 Eye Street, NW Suite 1125 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 639-8010 phone (202) 441-3349 cell

(Product)RED

(Product)RED engages big business in the fight against AIDS

· (Product)RED engages big business in raising awareness and funds for The Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa by teaming up with iconic brands. Current partners are: American Express, Armani, Converse and Gap.

· (Product)RED is a branding mechanism which companies license to sell (Product)RED branded products to raise funds for the Global Fund. Companies whose products take on the (Product)RED mark make a commitment to channel a percentage of the gross margin from sales of that product into Global Fund-financed AIDS programmes which benefit women and children in Africa.

· (Product)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. The aim is to increase the current contribution from the private sector of 1% to 10% in the long term.

· (Product)RED was created by Bono (U2, singer and activist) and Bobby Shriver (Chairman of DATA – Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa). The idea had its genesis in 1999 when Bono joined Jubilee 2000, a coalition formed to encourage debt reduction. DATA and other campaigns play a significant role by uniting to put political pressure on world governments to tackle the key issues surrounding debt, AIDS and trade.

A WORLDWIDE EMERGENCY

· Every year 6 million people die from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Of the 40 million people infected by HIV/AIDS, Africa (which has just over 10% of the world’s population) is home to 60% (25 million) of the global population living with HIV/AIDS. The disease is the leading cause of death in Africa.

· Women comprise the fastest growing population group living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa (they represent almost 60% of people living with HIV), and the result of their illness on children is an obvious and compelling one. Every time a man or woman is started on anti-retroviral drugs the survival of children becomes less precarious.

· Over 30 million children in Africa have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS already, and this number is growing. 2000 children, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, are infected with HIV each day.

· While the moral case stands alone as a reason to act, richer countries also have economic and security reasons to fight this emergency.

THE GLOBAL FUND to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

· The Global Fund is the world’s leading funder of programmes to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. The Global Fund has already committed $4.5 billion to life saving programmes in 130 countries and accounts for a quarter of the world’s funding for AIDS programmes in the developing world (over 50% for Malaria and 65% for TB).

· The Global Fund is a public/private partnership, run by representatives of governments, the private sector and civil society from all over the world. It provides grants to all countries that need to fight the three diseases and leaves to the countries to design and execute programmes, but it provides money only on the basis of proven results. It is a lean institution with an overhead of less than 3%.

· Created four years ago and with most programmes less than two years old, the Global Fund has already financed programmes that support nearly half a million people on AIDS treatment and that have reached tens of millions with the knowledge and tools to protect themselves against HIV infection.

· The Global Fund is facing a shortfall of funding, (funding gap of US $3.3 billion for 2006-2007) and urgently needs to expand its donor base.