Product Red, or (RED) is an organizations that aims to raise money by partnering with private sectors, in order to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in African countries.
With partners like Nike, American Express (UK), Apple Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, Starbucks, Converse, Electronic Arts, Primark, Head, Buckaroo, Penguin Classics (UK & International), Gap, Armani, Hallmark (US), SAP, Beats Electronics, and Supercell, the concept was co-founded by Irish singer-songwriter, the U2 frontman Bono in 2006.
Together with its partners, profits gained from sales are donated to the Global Fund.
But in this 2020, profits are also used in the Global Fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
This initiative started back in April.
At that time, Apple and (RED) started giving a portion of eligible proceeds to the Global Fund for COVID-19 relief. But the prolonged pandemic makes the two's partnership to continue, to also bumping up the donation to 100% starting 1 December 2020 to 30 June 2021.
On its Newsroom post, Apple said that:
"This year, communities around the world are grappling with HIV/AIDS as they also work to respond and protect against COVID-19, particularly for vulnerable populations. COVID-19 has created challenges in accessing care, diagnostics, and supplies, often disrupting crucial HIV/AIDS programs. To alleviate these challenges and ensure continuity in life-saving HIV/AIDS services, Apple’s contributions were redirected to the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response at the onset of the pandemic earlier this year. Thanks in part to support from Apple and Apple customers, the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response has been able to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on the communities most affected by HIV/AIDS and provide critical support in health systems threatened by the COVID-19 outbreak."
"These funds have allowed for additional contact tracing in South Africa, helped secure critical personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers and emergency medical equipment in Ghana, and enabled the purchase of motorbikes to deliver HIV treatment to local communities that have been unable to seek in-person health services due to COVID-19. Apple also donated millions of units of PPE to the Ministry of Health in Zambia, including both surgical masks sourced from its supply chain as well as face shields designed and produced by Apple."
Apple has worked with the (RED) since 2006 to combat HIV/AIDS in vulnerable regions on the African continent.
Over the last 14 years, the partnership between the two has led "to almost $250 million in donations for the Global Fund’s HIV/AIDS programs that offer prevention, testing, and counseling services."
With the money, Apple-supported grants "have provided over 10.8 million people with care and support services, helped with distribution of more than 167 million HIV tests, and provided 13.8 million people with ongoing access to life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment."
And in this 2020, the year that is almost crippled because of the coronavirus, Apple with (RED) are also donating for coronavirus relief.
Additionally, Apple is also giving away $1 to the cause from every purchase made through December 7 either that are made through Apple Pay, on apple.com, in the Apple App Store or at a physical Apple Store.
This year in 2020, Apple's Product (RED) line includes the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch bands, iPad cases, Beats headphones, and more.
Each product showcases a bright red design that may be familiar from earlier collaborations.
To inform people about this, Apple has also redesigned its website by making parts of it colored red.