December 1st is WORLD AIDS DAY

Just in time for World AIDS Day, (RED) is proud to announce that, thanks to your (RED) purchases, our partners' contributions to the Global Fund have reached over $50 million. (RED) funds are already at work as part of Global Fund grants in Rwanda, Swaziland and Ghana, funding programs with a primary focus on the health of women and children.

>> Calculate your personal (RED) impact
>> Learn more about how (RED) money is working in Africa
>> Watch "Because You Chose (RED)"

THE LAZARUS EFFECT
Thanks to the Global Fund and (RED) money that you've helped generate with your (RED) purchase, an extremely effective medicine to treat HIV is becoming widely available to people in Africa. And it’s as simple as two pills a day. It’s so effective, in fact, it can return a person to vibrant health in about 60 days.



CHOOSE (RED) FOR THE HOLIDAYS
When you shop (RED) for the holidays, you're not just giving to your friends and family -- you're also helping to eliminate AIDS in Africa with your purchases. Here's what's new:

Buy any pair of Converse (PRODUCT) RED shoes and a portion of the proceeds will go to The Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa. Design your own (PRODUCT) RED shoes at MAKEMINERED.COM

The Gap (PRODUCT) RED collection has something for everyone in your life, with new styles for men, women, kids and baby. New items include the (2 WEEKS) t-shirt, mittens, scarves, hats, sleepwear and the EcoTote. Find your local store or shop online at GAP.COM/RED

For World AIDS Day, Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) RED has introduced its holiday flash collection, including a tuxedo, dress, and fragrances, as well as a pair of bracelets Julia Roberts designed for the Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) RED collection. Shop Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) RED at EMPORIOARMANIPRODUCTRED.COM

The Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED collection features an inspired line of cards, gifts, flowers and gift wrap, including the INSPI(RED) keepsake holiday ornament. For you early shoppers, Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED holiday boxed cards are now available online at HALLMARK.COM/RED

Give more than music. Choose (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition iPod models and the iTunes (PRODUCT) RED gift card, and Apple gives a portion of the purchase price to fight AIDS in Africa. Buy (PRODUCT) RED from Apple at APPLE.COM/IPOD/RED

Talk (RED) and fight AIDS in Africa with your Motorola (PRODUCT) RED phone, available in Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Get yours at MOTOROLA.COM/RED

THE KILLERS TURN (RED) FOR CHRISTMAS
The Killers have turned their Christmas single "Don't Shoot Me Santa" (RED), with 100% of the proceeds to benefit the Global Fund, for investment in African AIDS programs.

>> Watch The Killers' video on YouTube
>> Buy the single on iTunes now

Thanks!
(RED)
JOINRED.COM

Order your Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED holiday boxed cards online now

I'm usually that procrastinator who waits until the last few days before Christmas to buy gifts for my friends and family – then I frantically run to stores and order stuff online to ship overnight. This year, I resolved to do better.

To start, I'm ordering my holiday cards right now on HALLMARK.COM/RED.

Yes, the Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED holiday boxed cards are now available online!

Order yours today, and prevent that last-minute headache :)

--bn

INSPI(RED) holiday cards

I had the pleasure of meeting Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete
recently. It was their daughter Ryan's idea to turn their holiday card
(RED) this year. They put a couch in front of their garage and their
friend Donyell Kennedy started snapping away. A trip to South Africa in
January has inspired the whole family! What inspires your family?

Tamsin

P.S. Create your own Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED photo cards here!

Every day makes a difference

Greta just sent us this "snapshot" of a day at one of Swaziland’s main HIV clinics, the Mbabane Public Care & VCT Center (VCT stands for Voluntary Counseling and Testing), so we can all get an idea of how (RED) money works on the ground in Africa.

To view more photos from Greta, go to the (RED) Flickr page. --bn

We arrive at Mbabane VCT Center at 9:30am and the waiting room is already full of people. The doors here open early, at 6:30am, specially for those clients who can’t afford to miss time off work. They come on foot, they come by crowded mini-bus and some are physically helped by loved ones because they’re not strong enough to make the trip on their own. This is a busy clinic.

The ARV center

Dr Patrick Okoth, one of the clinic’s four doctors, tells us that he and his colleagues will have seen about 120 patients by the end of their day and that’s not including those people who were coming in to see a volunteer counselor, visit the pharmacy or get tested for the very first time.

Dr. Patrick

Dr Patrick explains how Swaziland’s high HIV-prevalence rate is being played out in very human terms here before our eyes. Around 20 people come to the center each day to be tested for HIV and about 14 of these 20 will go home with the life-changing news that they are HIV-positive.

Just down the hallway, 10 more people are gathering in the clinic’s only meeting room for an informal but thorough briefing session to explain to them the commitment that beginning antiretroviral (ARV) medication entails. They’re a mixed group – from the cool young guy with a baseball cap, to the shy woman in her 30s, to two very unwell men in their 20’s or 30’s both languishing restlessly in wheelchairs alongside their mother and brother respectively. For an hour and a half we listen in as they’re taught the importance of eating well, remembering to take their ARV pills at the same time each day, and how their ARV medication will need to be a lifelong commitment. By the end of the session you can see them physically brighten as they hear there’s good reason for them to look forward to healthy, active lives.

These 10 will join the 6,500 people who rely on this clinic in Mbabane for their care and their ARV medication. And, in turn, everyone here relies on money from the Global Fund and (RED) to help buy these lifesaving pills and provide other vital services.

From here we head to the clinic’s dispensary where another group of clients is waiting to collect their prescriptions. Many of them are now able to pick up two months' worth of ARV pills at one time which has been a real blessing for those who make day-long journeys to get here and back home again. This is valuable time saved when you are trying to support a family.

ARVs at the dispensary

If it’s done just one thing, this day here has really brought home to me just what a difference even one day can make to the lives of many. 120 patients seen and cared for, 20 HIV tests, 10 new people educated on taking ARVs, hundreds of pills given away, and many given hope. A powerful difference in just 9 hours.

--Greta

Giving Thanks

Every year, UNAIDS publishes estimates for the toll AIDS is taking around the world. In recent years, they have offered revisions to the numbers based on improved systems for calculating data. The 2007 report -- published in concert with the World Health Organization -- was released today. The new estimates reflect a substantial overhaul in methodology which, along with demonstrable progress in tackling the pandemic, show a 16 percent reduction in the number of people living with AIDS globally.

It’s exciting to see positive figures and more accurate data as we near World AIDS Day on December 1. Better information across national populations is critical to ensuring that the Global Fund and partner organizations target resources most effectively. News like this reminds us that we can help eliminate AIDS in Africa, but there is much more work to do. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region.

Here are the new and improved numbers:

• 68 percent of the global total of people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa
• 4,383 is the average number of deaths daily due to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
• There are an estimated 11.4 million orphans due to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
• Adult HIV prevalence rate in Swaziland is 26% vs 33% in 2006

Let’s stay at it – shop until these numbers drop away. RIP HIV.

To learn more, read the UNAIDS press release, and the Global Fund response. For more information on the new methodology, read the New York Times' coverage.

Send us your (RED) greeting card design!

Hi (RED) friends,

You’ve probably heard by now that we have a new member of our family: Hallmark. Well, not only are we proud to have their inspired collection of cards, gifts and gift wrap in our (PRODUCT) RED portfolio, we’re excited to share an opportunity that is all about you.

One of the top requests Hallmark hears is, “Where can I submit my card idea?” Who do you think gets the first crack at this opportunity? You, our (RED) community members!

For the first time ever, Hallmark is holding an open call for greeting card design submissions: Create the front of a (RED) card and compete for ten finalist spots. Those ten cards will be printed and sold on hallmark.com. Plus, finalists get $250 plus another $250 contributed to the Global Fund in their name.

Vote for your favorite finalist design to pick the Grand Prize Winner, whose design will stay in Hallmark’s (PRODUCT) RED card collection for a year, plus will be awarded another $2,250. And $2,250 contributed to the Global Fund in their honor.

Check out www.hallmark.com/you to learn more about all of this and to participate!

Now you can design cards that put a smile on a friend's face—and help people living with AIDS in Africa. See how far your card design can go.

This is only the beginning for Hallmark and you, if you like making cards. Look for more Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED greeting card competitions in the future!

Go to www.hallmark.com/you and send in your design.

Have fun and good luck! We can't wait to see your creations.

(RED)
JOINRED.COM

How far can a card go?

The Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED collection hit shelves just as I was heading to Swaziland, so we brought cards to share and returned with fond missives. From (RED) shareholders in Africa to (RED) investors in America, Australia, the UK, Japan and beyond, the message is thank you and welcome Hallmark!!

--Tamsin

(RED)'s new Facebook profile

Take a look at our new profile at FACEBOOK.COM/JOINRED to learn more about (RED), view our photos and videos, and interact with other (RED) community members. Remember to spread (RED) – tell your friends and family to join us on Facebook!

Cheers,
bn

The Lazarus Effect

Celebrated photojournalist Antonin Kratochvil dropped by the (RED) office today to tell us about his photographs of a different kind of war – the fight against AIDS in Africa.

We first met Antonin through his work for Vanity Fair's Africa issue – he traveled to Zambia to capture images of HIV-positive individuals, and then returned 40 days later to photograph their miraculous return to health thanks to antiretroviral medicine (ARVs). (Be sure to read the accompanying feature story The Lazarus Effect, by Alex Shoumatoff, if you haven't already.)

Antonin told us he was impressed by the HIV/AIDS health program he visited in Zambia, which works toward getting sick people on ARVs and then keeping them on the medication. "It takes discipline and education," he said. "They're dedicated people in Zambia."

Between his stories of his war experiences in Vietnam and Iraq, Antonin also mentioned that even writer Alex Shoumatoff himself could barely believe that the ARVs could restore someone's health so quickly.

"When he saw the pictures, he was convinced," Antonin said.

Indeed, these photos make it clear how effective ARVs can be in the fight against AIDS.

Thank you, Antonin!

To see more of Antonin's work, visit his website www.antoninkratochvil.com and his agency's website at www.viiphoto.com/photographer.html (click on Antonin Kratochvil)

A few members of the (RED) team with Antonin in the center

Back with Brian Williams reporting...

Brian Williams caught up with Bono this week on the first anniversary of (RED)'s launch in the U.S. for a report on the success of (RED) and the impact of (RED) money flowing into AIDS programs in Africa. 47 million dollars made so far for Global Fund AIDS programs is already affecting one million people through ARV distribution, prevention of mother to child transmission, and service programs in Rwanda, Swaziland and Ghana.

You'll find the report on The Today Show and a longer version tonight on NBC Nightly News. Also check out MSNBC and CNBC today for reports along with Brian Williams' Daily Nightly Blog.

Tamsin accompanied a separate NBC crew to Swaziland to report on the impact of (RED) funds there. In Tamsin's interview, she talks about the fact that just 2 pills a day, at a cost of 40 cents, can keep someone alive so that they lead a healthy vibrant life and take care of their loved ones. That, with available medicine, you can essentially come back to life--it's something they call the Lazarus Effect. Thanks to (RED) shoppers and the Global Fund, the medicine's now available in Swaziland.

Nomcebo Gama, Clinical Pharmacist talks about the power of seeing a BEDRIDDEN person come into the clinic, get treated with ARVs and then WALK out of the clinic and return to their lives.

Lulu Vilakati, 24 who is a translator at the Baylor Clinic (Lulu was featured with her 2 year old daughter Sinethemba in the Africa issue of Vanity Fair - in the (RED) Stakeholders portfolio photograph) talks about being tested for HIV when her TB would not go away. When her test was positive she thought she would just die, but Global Fund money gained her access to ARVs and also mother-to-child transmission prevention. As a result, Lulu is well and Sinethemba is HIV-negative.

Lulu says, "Now, I want all people to live my life, I want them to know there is life after HIV. I want them to know that being HIV-positive doesn't mean you're going to die... I want them to know that living with HIV doesn't mean you are different from other people; you are the same person you were. I can see success in my life because I can now can do most of the things without any problem. I'm really happy with my status. All I can say is that there is life after HIV."

Thanks to Lulu Vilakati, Nomcebo Gama, Derek von Wissell, Nana Mdluli, Sifiso, Sylvia Khuzwayo, Dr. Patrick Okoth, Busi Bhembe.

Watch Bono on NBC tomorrow with Brian Williams

Tomorrow (RED) co-founder Bono will sit down with NBC News’ Brian Williams to talk about the first year of (RED) and the impact our partner companies and all (RED) shoppers have had on the lives of those living with AIDS in Africa.

Tune into the Today Show and NBC Nightly News on Friday, November 2 to catch the two-part interview. Please check your local listings for show times.

Also, be sure to check out Bono's video blog on the Nightly News' homepage here.

TIMES SQUA(RED)

Wow! Here's a photo of the HALLMARK (PRODUCT) RED billboards that just went up in Times Square in New York.

If you're in New York – take a photo of yourself in front of the billboards and send it to our Flickr moblog at moblog@joinred.com :)

Cheers
bn