Alliance welcomes Product RED but warns of dangers of earmarking funding
31 January 2006
A new private sector initiative, Product RED, has been launched to raise funds for, and awareness of, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Product RED, created by U2 singer Bono and Bobby Shriver, chairman of Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa (DATA), will licence companies to sell Product RED branded goods with a percentage of the profit from sales going towards Global Fund-financed programmes benefiting women and children in Africa. So far companies involved in the initiative include American Express, Armani, Converse and Gap.
Alliance executive director Alvaro Bermejo welcomed the new initiative: “It is critical that all sectors support the work of the Global Fund and until now the private sector has been standing on the sidelines. RED is mobilising businesses to support the Global Fund and start taking action on AIDS which we fully support. However, earmarking Global Fund money for particular uses — in this case women and children — sets a worrying precedent as it could undermine efforts to provide universal access to comprehensive prevention and treatment services."
Products announced so far include a Red American Express credit card, Converse sports shoes, a new line of Gap vintage-style T-shirts, and wraparound Emporio Armani sunglasses embossed with a Red logo.
The Global Fund still faces an estimated funding shortfall of $3 billion for 2006-7. New funds are essential if the goal of universal access to prevention and treatment by 2010 is to be realised.
