Engaging New Audiences In The Fight Against AIDS

The world finds itself at a historic moment in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with the opportunity to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV and take a crucial step toward defeating this global pandemic that has already claimed 30 million lives. It's a chance to change the course of history by ensuring that the next generation is born HIV-free by 2015.

This is an attainable goal, but it isn't a done deal. We find ourselves in a time when the global economy threatens public sector funding for this effort. Now would be the absolute worst time to take our foot off the gas and lose the momentum we have built in the fight against AIDS thanks, in large part, to the ability to provide life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to millions of people over the past decade.

So how can the world push this effort over the finish line? Critical pieces include creating new funding models, new ways to keep heat on the issue and new ideas to entice people's engagement and energy in this battle.

For our part in this fight, (RED) is trying to engage corporations and the public in a variety of ways. On June 1, (RED) will kick off our first (RED)RUSH TO ZERO campaign, ten days of in-person and digital events and experiences bringing together brands, celebrities, gamers, music fans and consumers around the world, to raise critical funding and awareness. There will be the (RED)RUSH Games, a global video game tournament whose small participation fee will benefit the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The (RED) music program will allow fans to buy (RED) tickets and concert venues to create (RED) promotions, again benefitting the Global Fund. A unique fundraising road trip will have a group of dynamic women driving across Europe. And our roster of corporate partners are participating in a variety of ways, from offering new (RED) products to creating social media fundraising campaigns.

Since launching in 2006, (RED) has generated more than $190 million for Global Fund HIV/AIDS grants that have so far impacted the lives of more than 14 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa through prevention, treatment, counseling and care services. As one of the first innovative funding mechanisms for global health, we take seriously the challenge to mine new sources to solve one of the biggest health problems in history. So we're plugging further into the zeitgeist to tap into the dynamic worlds of gaming and music. This gives us a chance to leverage people's existing passions to fund solutions for those living in extreme poverty.

The potential for more innovative financing is great, and players in the global health sector have been pursuing new and exciting ideas. For example, in the past few years we've seen the creation of a mechanism at GAVI that allows governments to make long-term commitments that can be leveraged as bonds on the capital markets, providing faster access to funds for vaccines. We've also seen the Global Fund innovate through a number of partnerships to help provide medicine and care programs in some of the most tough-to-reach places in the developing world.

It is going to require a renewed commitment by the public and private sectors -- working collaboratively -- to excite and activate people around the world to bring an end to HIV/AIDS. The (RED)RUSH TO ZERO campaign, June 1-10, is the kind of aggressive action that is needed to make this goal a reality. It's time to start the beginning of the end of AIDS.

 

Comments

[Susan Wile Schwarz]

03:02 PM on 05/23/2012

This is great! I think it is exactly the sort of innovative and creative strategy we should be applying not just to HIV/AIDS but to all kinds of poverty-reduction-related efforts. That said, I just wrote something about the other end of this rope: thoughts on future directions for HIV prevention based on my recent work in Haiti. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-wile-schwarz/hiv-epidemic_b_1533954.html#postComment

[sws19]

02:39 PM on 05/23/2012

This is great! It is exactly the sort of insightful and creative strategy that we should be applying to all kinds of poverty-related efforts.

[ready-for-change]

01:34 AM on 05/23/2012

oops, sorry for the double post...

[ready-for-change]

12:23 AM on 05/23/2012

The goal of ending AIDS is something we absolutely must strive for, not only are people with HIV still dying in spite of taking medication, many can't afford it at all, and many others suffer terrible side effects from the anti-virals. But medical science has made great strides recently, including the case of the "Berlin Patient" who was completely cured of HIV. Both animal and human trials of gene therapy are underway, but there is a so-called "valley of death" between research making positive discoveries and actually receiving enough money to conclude multiple human trials. The US currently spends about $24 Billion annually fighting AIDS. So a cure would not only save millions of lives, in the long run it would save us billions of dollars too. Yet of the $24 billion we spend annually, only about $60 million goes toward an HIV cure. That is less than ONE QUARTER OF ONE PERCENT towards a cure... I think we can do better. So do the people at aidspolicyproject.org, they are urging director Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health to increase HIC cure-research funding to $240 million. We have the power to make it happen. Let's cure HIV in our generation!

[ready-for-change]

11:21 PM on 05/22/2012

Great article, and ending mother-infant transmission will be a wonderful thing, but for all the people who already have HIV and for all those who will still become infected, we need a CURE! Even people who can afford the meds are dying younger, many have terrible complications, and many cannot afford the medicine both in the US and abroad. But the case of the Berlin Patient, who has been totally cured of HIV, have given scientists a path to a cure or cures, that even now are in various stages of clinical trials. But there is a so-called "valley of death" where promising research fails to get the funding needed to complete multiple rounds of trials. The US spends 24 billion dollars fighting AIDS annually, a cure would not only save millions of live but in the long run would save us billions of dollars. Yet of that 24 billion only about 60 million is directed towards researching a CURE. That's about one-quarter of 1%. We need to do better. We need the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins to increase the funding that goes to finding an HIV cure to 240 million. We can end AIDS in out lifetime. We can cure it. Visit www.aidspolicyproject.org for more info.