WORLD AIDS DAY
How (RED) Is Handling Two Pandemics
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Choose (RED), save lives. Since 2006, these four words have played a bright and visible role in confronting HIV/AIDS, offering a way for people around the world to join in by doing things they already do.
For 14 years, a portion of every purchase of Apple’s (PRODUCT)RED offerings has gone to provide counseling, testing, and medication services in sub-Saharan Africa. Apple customers have helped raise almost 250 million USD to date.
This year will feature more than a dozen (PRODUCT)RED offerings, including iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple Watch bands, and Beats headphones. Checking out with Apple Pay gives you another way to contribute. From December 1–7, Apple will donate 1 USD to (RED) for every Apple Pay transaction in stores, online, and via the Apple Store app.
Funds raised from these purchases go to the Global Fund, a partnership among governments, health organizations, and the private sector to distribute funds to local groups fighting three of the world’s biggest—yet preventable—diseases: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
The results have been promising: AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 60 percent since their peak in 2003, and lifesaving medication that had cost 27 USD per day in 2000 is now down to as little as 20 cents a day.
But the work would be far from over in a typical year—and 2020 was far from typical. According to Luisa Engel, chief strategy and impact officer for (RED), the organization has spent 2020 battling not just HIV/AIDS but also the effects of COVID-19.
“Every global crisis hits the most vulnerable populations hardest,” says Engel. “These pandemics are inextricably linked, particularly in the African communities in which we work. Luckily, our partners said, ‘We’re still in the AIDS fight, but we also want to get involved in the COVID-19 response.’”
Today, 38 million people—including 1.8 million children—are living with HIV. Nearly 26 million of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, where COVID-19 has only made a difficult situation more so. “We were really at an inflection point in the AIDS fight at the beginning of the year,” says Engel. “Now the concern is that the impact of COVID-19 will reverse the progress we've achieved.”
These pandemics are inextricably linked, particularly in the African communities in which we work.
—Luisa Engel, chief strategy and impact officer, (RED)
That reversal can take differing but connected forms:
“If you have five health care workers for an entire clinic and they’ve diverted to managing a COVID-19 outbreak, they're no longer available to treat HIV patients. If testing services are interrupted, potentially infectious people won't know their status and could infect others. People might be afraid to go to health centers,” says Engel.
“And if you don't have access to medication, you could reverse the progress of your own health and potentially that of your partner or unborn child.”
It’s a big challenge, but not insurmountable. “The Global Fund is so well constructed,” Engel says. “Local experts in every single country use the funding for what’s best for their community. It makes it really easy for partners to contribute in a way that’s authentic and impactful.”
To browse this year’s (PRODUCT)RED offerings, download the Apple Store app or visit Apple.com.