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PRODUCT)RED™, is a for-profit brand to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria
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September 24, 2007, 21:00
Red, the initiative formed to rally consumer and corporate funding in the fight against Aids in Africa, has generated more than $45 million so far for the Global Fund, which finances Aids, tuberculosis and malaria projects worldwide, organizers said today.
Major corporations, such as Gap Inc, Apple Inc and Motorola Inc, have joined the Red initiative, which was founded last year. A portion of the sales of Red-branded apparel, iPods and cell phones, for example, goes to the Global Fund.
"Red's contribution of $45 million to the Global Fund in the short period since it was launched in 2006 means that private sector contributions to the Global Fund are at a completely new level," Michel Kazatchkine, the fund's executive director, said in a statement.
Between 2002 and 2006, the private sector contributed $5 million to the fund, he said. Since its launch in 2002, the Geneva-based Global Fund has raised more than $10 billion and committed $7 billion for efforts to prevent and treat Aids, malaria and tuberculosis in 136 countries.
Some $9 million from the Red initiative has already gone to anti-Aids programs, such as services, drugs, testing and counselling in Swaziland, and $14 million has gone to Rwanda, organizers said. - Reuters
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