India's AIDS Victims Find Few Safety Nets

The article is 3 and a half years old but it is very touching to read.

An Indian Lady, Chakravarty, had just lost her husband to AIDS, and she and her 4-year-old son are also infected by the disease. Her family and friends don't want to help her out, even though she is very poor, because they don't have sufficient information to help, and feel she is contagious. She has been turned away from hospitals. She found refuge in Sahara, one of the capital city's few refuges for people with AIDS.

Residents at the centers have learned how to take care of themselves and one another, including Chakravarty and her son.

Bill & Melinda Gates help set up this center in Sahara. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has promised $200 million to combat AIDS in India, but none of it is likely to be of help to people like Chakravarty. Bill Gates isn't much interested in paying for AIDS treatment or care. He want to set up a system to focus on AIDS prevention, not the treatment of AIDS victims.

We have to ask ourselves if this is what we need, a prevention plan, when some people that are out there with AIDS don't even know it.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/globalhealth/151515_nisha08.html

Join Red?

(RED) is an organization that was created to help in the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It gets large corportations to "join red" and donate a certain percent of the revenues from the items purchased, or used, to the The Global Fund, which buys pills for poor people suffering from these three deadly diseases.

Some of the company's that have already "joined red" include Motorola, with its RED MOTORAZR and RED MOTOSLVR, American Express, with its REDpass, GAP, with a complete line of RED clothing, Emporio Armani, and its RED capsule collection, Converse's (PRODUCT) RED collection, and Apple's iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition.

In a section on there website they explain their Manifesto which states:

"All things being equal. They are not...(RED) is not a charity. It is simply a business model. You buy (RED) stuff. We get the money, buy the pills and distribute them. They take the pills, stay alive, and continue to take care of their families and contribute socially and economically in their communities.

If they don't get the pills, they die. We don't want them to die. We want to give them the pills. And we can. And you can. And it's easy.

All you have to do is upgrade your choice."

These are the same words said by the people who are in the commercial "Join (RED)."

These are just the company's in the US. In UK there are still even more products that are (RED) including The Independant (one of UK's leading newspapers) which dontates 50% to the Global Fund.

So would it be worth it to buy (RED)? I say yes. This company is giving refuge to people that desperately need it. It's not only a company that walks the walk but can't talk the talk. It's giving life back to people that desprately need it, and helping them save not only themselves but their families.

http://joinred.com/default.asp

Picture From: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhvEbomtWOmJvo4leuZ_uu1VQWkzObsGVXcHNM_KGW1KGE9PINwOnZ5nuAf22AjfuxfBpR4ZqTQTdpi6y2xpzumPNbv4otss-0u5gDFm7ZRiByQg5E1pVOaSu6IZ282-_hwzADBUJh5c/s1600-h/phone.jpg

Join (RED) also has a blog at: http://joinred.blogspot.com/