“BORN HIV FREE” – campaign launched by The Global Fund and supported by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
Paris, 19 May 2010 - The Global Fund launched the BORN HIV FREE campaign to mobilize public support for its work and for a world where no child is born with HIV by 2015.
The campaign developed by the Global Fund with the support of Mrs. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, aims at being one of the most ambitious of its kind. The central idea is to inspire and encourage the people to sign-up online in support of The Global Fund's mission.
"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," says Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, The Global Fund's Ambassador for Protecting Women and Children against AIDS. "I hope the BORN HIV FREE campaign will inspire millions of people to support The Global Fund so we can finally put an end to this terrible injustice."
HIV positive mothers can transmit the HIV infection to their children both during pregnancy and through breast-feeding. The risk of transmitting HIV can be significantly reduced if the future mothers can access adequate services for prevention and treatment.
"We can win this battle against AIDS if we get the funding we require," says Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The Global Fund. "This campaign is intended to encourage people to sign up in support of The Global Fund and to show their leaders that there is strong public support to continue and increase funding for its mission."
The press release mentions that the campaign was conceived by French musician and producer Julien Civange at the request of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and co-produced with The Global Fund.
Designed to work across various social and traditional media platforms, the campaign 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 will operate in several languages with the vivid and imaginative short animation films aiming to expand public awareness that an HIV-free generation is now truly possible. In fact, all films distributed through social or media platforms focus on the promise of a world that protects children from HIV.
Actor and director Vincent Perez has directed a special video with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to promote the campaign on YouTube. This is supplemented with a film by the award-winning Swedish animator Jonas Odell highlighting the tremendous advances made by the Global Fund in the fight against the three diseases.
Since its establishment in 2002, The Global Fund has approved proposals totaling US$ 19.4 billion making it the main contributor to the health-related Millennium Development Goals.
A majority of The Global Fund's resources come from donor governments. This year countries will pledge funding for the next three years (2011-2013) to fight the three diseases.
For more information related to the campaign, you may access www.bornhivfree.org.
"BORN HIV FREE" - campaign launched by The Global Fund and supported by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
