Global Fund Launches "Born HIV Free" Campaign to Rally Public and Donor Support

Author:

David Garmaise

Article Type:

Article Number: 7

ABSTRACT The Born HIV Free campaign is centred around the elimination of HIV transmission from mother to child, but the Global Fund hopes that it will also persuade donor countries to give more to the Fund at the Third Replenishment meeting in October 2010.

The Global Fund is hoping that its Born HIV Free campaign will not only mobilise public support for a world where no child is born with HIV, but will also persuade donor countries to give more to the Fund at the Third Replenishment meeting in New York on 4-5 October 2010. The Global Fund and UNAIDS have said that elimination of HIV transmission from mother to child by 2015 is possible if governments continue to invest adequately in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The core of the primarily web-based Born HIV Free campaign is a series of short live and animated videos intended to inspire people to sign up online in support of The Global Fund’s mission. The public spokesperson for the campaign is Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a Global Fund Ambassador, and wife of the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. Bruni-Sarkozy said in a statement, “It is heartbreaking that over 400,000 babies are born with HIV every year even though we have the medical means and the expertise to prevent this.”

In a press release, the Global Fund said that the campaign has been designed to work across digital and traditional media, and that it “brings together several major companies who have joined up as official partners in support of the Global Fund: Google, JC Decaux, Jean-Paul Gaultier, MSN, Orange, Tiffany & Co. and YouTube which will be a major platform for the campaign.” The campaign is operating in several languages.

To check out the Born HIV Free website and to sign up: www.bornhivfree.org.

To see the videos on YouTube: www.youtube.com/bornhivfree.