During my visit to the Social Good Summit in New York City last month, I attended a meeting with a group of bloggers to learn more about (RED), a division of the ONE Campaign that works to eliminate AIDS through consumer activism. (RED) was founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver as a way to engage people and businesses all over the world to fight the greatest challenge of our time – the fight to end AIDS.

Coffee with the women from RED and our RED bracelets.

RED ad on website of woman and child.

Updated October 2013    About (RED)™ (RED) was founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver to engage businesses and people in the fight against AIDS.   (RED) partners with the world’s most iconic brands who contribute up to 50% of profits from (RED) branded goods and services to the Global Fund. (RED) Proud Partners include: Apple, Starbucks, The Coca-Cola Company, Beats by Dr. Dre, Belvedere, Claro, SAP, Telcel and American Express (UK only). (RED) Special Edition partners include: Shazam, Girl Skateboards, Mophie, FEED, Nanda Home, Bottletop, Tourneau, Fatboy USA, Bed Bath & Beyond, HEAD.   To date, (RED) has generated more than $215 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to support HIV/AIDS grants in Ghana, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania. 100 percent of that money goes to work on the ground – no overhead is taken. Global Fund grants that (RED) supports have impacted more than 14 million people with prevention, treatment, counseling, HIV testing and care services. (RED) is a division of The ONE Campaign. Learn more at http://www.red.org.   About The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria   The Global Fund is an international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria.  The Global Fund promotes partnerships between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities, the most effective way to help reach those in need. This innovative approach relies on country ownership and performance-based funding, meaning that people in countries implement their own programs based on their priorities and the Global Fund provides financing where verifiable results are achieved. Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has approved funding of US$ 22.9 billion for in 140 countries. To date, programs supported by the Global Fund have provided AIDS treatment for 5.3 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 11 million people and 340 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts in dealing with the three diseases.

(RED) partners with some of the world’s leading brands to offer a changing collection of  iconic (RED) products triggering a unique way of consumer activism:  With each purchase of a (RED) product 50% of the proceeds are donated to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which saves 100,000 lives a month.

Here is an example of how (RED) works on the back end to fight AIDS.

What is so exciting about (RED) is that they make it so incredibly easy for consumers to give back and support the fight of AIDS. Just simply purchasing a (RED) product starts the process of donating to The Global Fund and every single dollar donated to The Global Fund is donated on the ground meaning there is no overhead. Pretty amazing.

Here is a current list of some of the brands who are going (RED). Remember the GAP collection of t-shirts called Inspi(RED)?

The (RED) Manifesto is a wonderful example at how organizations can inspire people to give back and make a difference in the world. Simply making a purchase of a (RED) product, can help save a person’s life.

So why is it important to fight HIV/AIDS and why now? Simply because we have never been so close to seeing an end of AIDS before. It is proven that antiretrovirals work. Today, over 6 million people are being effectively treated with antiretrovirals that have a 96% success rate in not transmitting the disease. With action and urgency, it is possible to see the end of the transmission of HIV from mothers to their newborns. We are so close to eradicating this horrible disease.

Fact:  It is also estimated that nearly 30 million people have died from AIDS-related causes since the beginning of the epidemic (UNAID 2010 report).

Fact: AIDS remains a global epidemic infecting 2.7 million new people and claiming 2 million lives each year.

Topsy/AIDS Patient’s Dramatic Recovery from AIDS

An inspiring, one-minute video that was shown on World AIDS Day in 2011 marking the 30th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS.

I leave you with the story of Motselisi. (RED) first met Motselisi in the rural Nyakosoba Village in Lesotho when she was 11 months old, frail and weak without access to medication. Motselisi was put on anti-retroviral (ARV) medicine, and 90 days later, she had been brought back to life and was a healthy, happy baby. Hers is a true story of the Lazarus Effect and the life-saving power of HIV/AIDS treatment, treatment that costs around 40 cents a day in sub-Saharan Africa.