Standing in for the day for the London paper’s editor Simon Kelner, the U2 superstar Bono edited a special ‘Red’ edition in The Independent, which he highlighted one of his main passions - tackling Aids in Africa.
Closer to home, the AIDS epidemic Update 2005, cited that the Caribbean was the second most affected region in the world after Africa making it the leading cause of death among adults aged 15-44. Estimated national adult HIV prevalence surpasses 1% in Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Suriname, 2% in Bahamas, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, and exceeds 3% in Haiti. In Cuba,on the other hand, prevalence is yet to reach 0.2%. While few countries have made progress in monitoring and dealing with the epidemic, one of the core problems in countries such as Jamaica for example, is that people are still uneducated about AIDS/HIV, although there has been notable progress to do so otherwise and like elsewhere, people still hold firm to myths surrounding the virus. More importanly, as seen in Africa, medication and treatment, HAART (highly active retroviral therapy) are costly and not readily available for this epidemic in certain regions.
The AIDS epidemic however, is rampant in Africa which has been classified as the poorest country in the world. With The Independent Red edition Bono sets out to further enlighten and bring attention to the situation present in Africa at the moment. The newspaper dedicates its whole series of articles on Africa and the plight of Aids/HIV sufferers for today’s edition which has the heading “No News Today’ as its front page heading accompanied by the line “Just 6,500 Africans died today as a result of a preventable, treatable disease.”
Its main story focuses on a victim of the Aids Pandemic now sweeping Africa. The article is accompanied by the poignant picture of Samuel Nakabonge, a man from Uganda, lying in a coffin while his youngest daughter looks through its glass lid. In addition to his editing duties, he also interviews both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair on their vision for the future of Africa. Among the guest reporters are Stella McCartney who interviews fashion guru Giorgio Armani. GAP, by October will have 50 items promoting the cause among other brands along with Product Red, that has created a range of products including footwear, sunglasses and a credit card[American Express] to generate funds. The latest is a new Red mobile phone which is expected to raise tens of millions of pounds for Aids drugs and education. All these actions are commendable and has open more opportunities for the public to become even more aware and have a more active role in the fight against AIDS. Half of the newspaper sales for the day will be donated to Product Red. Visit Product Red at www.joinred.com or their blog joinred@blogspot.com