More on Bono

DATA stands for "Debt AIDS trade Africa". It was established "...to raise awareness of the crisis facing Africa and to increase support in the United States and abroad to address this issue. We lobby the governments of wealthy nations to increase funding and promote policies which will benefit Africa. We also work to inform citizens of wealthier countries and to increase grassroots support for better policies towards Africa."

Bono is on the Board of Directors of DATA and this is an article I found on the site on his RED campaign:

AS PRODUCT (RED) LAUNCHES IN AMERICA, OPENING A NEW FRONT IN THE WAR AGAINST AIDS, A FEW WORDS FROM BONO

Sometimes when I’m walking down the street a passer by will say “love your work on Africa Bono, great cause.” Sometimes, they wish they hadn’t. I’m Irish, I love to talk to strangers. I love to talk about Africa. It can be hard to get away ... Each time it makes me think we need to do much more to get the message across that this is not a ‘cause,’ this pandemic that we and so many others are working on. 5,500 Africans dying a day of AIDS, a preventable, treatable disease is not a cause. 5,500 Africans dying each day is an emergency.

Enter Product (RED). Red is a new idea we’re launching to work alongside the growing ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History. Over the past year, almost 2 million Americans have joined ONE, in churches and chatrooms ... on soccer pitches and movie sets ... at NASCAR races and rock concerts. By 2008, we’re aiming to have 5 million members – that’s more than the National Rifle Association. Just think for a moment of what that kind of political firepower could achieve for the poorest of the poor...

Where ONE takes on the bigger, longer-term beast of changing policy and influencing government, (RED) is, I guess, about a more instant kind of gratification. If you buy a (RED) product from GAP, Motorola, Armani, Converse or Apple, they will give up to 50% of their profit to buy AIDS drugs for mothers and children in Africa. (RED) is the consumer battalion gathering in the shopping malls. You buy the jeans, phones, iPods, shoes, sunglasses, and someone - somebody’s mother, father, daughter or son - will live instead of dying in the poorest part of the world. It’s a different kind of fashion statement.

You might think (RED) sounds too simple. But AIDS is no longer a death sentence. Just two pills a day will bring someone who is at death’s door back to full health, back to a full life. Doctors call it ‘the Lazarus effect’. I’ve seen it myself and I have to say that it’s nothing short of a miracle. These pills are available at any corner drugstore. They cost less than a dollar a day, but the poorest people in Africa earn less than a dollar a day. They can’t afford them, and so they die. It’s unnecessary. It’s insane.

You might think it’s too difficult to get these drugs to the people who most need them. A couple of years ago when DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) lobbied President Bush, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac to do more on AIDS we went to experts about this. From Bill and Melinda Gates, to Dr Paul Farmer working in the poorest places on the earth, to Dr Coutinho in his AIDS clinic in Uganda. Is it easy? No. Is it impossible? No. Can we do it? Absolutely. In 2001, there were 50,000 Africans taking ARVs. Now there are over one million people getting these life saving drugs thanks to President Bush’s AIDS initiative, and thanks to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

There are though still 4.3 million Africans without drugs, which is why 100% of (RED) money is going directly to the Global Fund to support the work they are doing. (RED) uses the power in your pocket to keep people alive. ONE uses the power of your voice to create a more just world where people can earn their own way out of poverty. This means tackling more than AIDS. It means fighting corruption. Insisting on good governance. Getting kids in school. Changing trade rules. Getting businesses to invest in Africa. Myself and Ali started a company called Edun – a fashion line that makes clothes in Africa – because so many Africans we met said what they wanted more than anything was a job.

All of this is ganging up on the same problem – the greatest health crisis in human history and the extreme poverty in which it thrives. The Number 1 question we get asked is, what can I do to help? From today, you can do one more thing than you could do yesterday. Shop (RED). And if you haven’t already, join the One campaign at one.org.

As I said, this is an emergency. And in these dangerous times, how we in the West respond is an opportunity to show what we stand for, as well as what we stand against. If we’re successful, we will not only transform millions of people’s lives, we’ll transform the way these people see us ... and in turn, the world in which we live.

For more information on the campaigns Bono mentioned:

Joinred.com
Product (RED), founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to engage consumers and the private sector with its marketing prowess and funds in the fight against AIDS. Money raised from (RED) Products goes to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

One.org
The ONE campaign to make poverty history was founded in 2005 and is now 2.3 million members strong representing Americans from all 50 states. The goal of this movement is to persuade the US government to spend an additional one percent of the federal budget on tackling AIDS and extreme poverty

Data.org
DATA (debt, AIDS, trade, Africa) is an advocacy organization founded in 2002 by Bono, Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee “Drop the Debt” campaign to fight extreme poverty and AIDS in Africa. DATA’s mission is to tackle the three issues that most adversely affect the African continent -- unpayable debts, the spread of AIDS and unfair trade policies – by raising public awareness and working with leaders in the U.S. and throughout the G8 to bring more resources to the region.

Edun.ie
EDUN, which has just produced a ONE Campaign t-shirt raising money for AIDS drugs in Lesotho, is an ethically-sourced high fashion clothing company. It was created in 2005 by Ali Hewson, Bono and designer Rogan Gregory in an effort to increase trade opportunities and sustainable long-term employment in developing nations. With factories located in Africa, South America and India, EDUN believes in respect for and investment in the people and places where its clothing is made.