World AIDS Day was today. I know I'm a a little late in posting this but I wanted to share with you the latest great thing that MAC Cosmetics is doing to support such a greatly important cause:
Johannesburg, South Africa November 24, 2008. A new grant program from the MAC AIDS Fund has granted $2.5 million to fighting HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The grant will go to UNICEF South Africa and (NOAH) Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity to help in testing and treating pregnant women and strengthen the community infrastructure to care for children orphaned by AIDS. The children of South Africa have been hard hit by the AIDS epidemic, where 280,000 children are living with the disease and 1.4 million have lost one or both parents.
The $2.5 million was raised $14 at a time across 16 countries when MAC Cosmetics customers purchased
VIVA GLAM lipsticks and lipglasses. The entire sale price of the products is directed to the MAC AIDS Fund.
It is our responsibility as a global company to invest in integrated and sustainable HIV/AIDS initiatives and programs, said Nancy Mahon, Senior Vice President of MAC Cosmetics and Executive Director of the MAC AIDS Fund. This collaboration will have a significant impact on addressing the alarming and rising rates of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, working in partnership with two important local grassroots organizations that are on the frontlines and have a deep and vast understanding of the issue.
The new MAC AIDS Fund grant will provide $2 million to UNICEF to provide HIV testing and treatment to pregnant women and children in Kwazulu Natal, North West and Limpopo which together account for 50 percent of the 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. In addition to expanding programs for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, this grant will allow the provincial governments to incorporate HIV testing into existing immunization programs. This will provide a critical opportunity to identify HIV-positive children and bring them into care and treatment. The program will also provide treatment to 36,000 pregnant HIV positive
women to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies and ongoing antiretroviral medication to over 5,000 women and children.
The power of one VIVA GLAM lipstick or Lipglass never ceases to amaze me, said MAC Cosmetics Global President and MAC AIDS Fund Chairman John Demsey. In this case, the proceeds from hundreds of thousands of VIVA GLAM sales will support two innovative and groundbreaking HIV/AIDS programs in South Africa. The two organizations we are supporting through this global partnership really understand the needs of their country, uniquely positioning them to create and implement comprehensive programs to address the AIDS crisis in South Africa. VIVA GLAM customers should be proud to know that they are directly contributing to the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
The MAC AIDS Fund began supporting HIV/AIDS programs in Africa in 2000, and has granted more than $10 million in South Africa alone. In South Africa VIVA GLAM can be purchased at one of 13 MAC Cosmetics stores with five locations in Johannesburg, one in Pretoria, four in Cape Town, two in Durban and one in Port Elizabeth.
The following 16 MAC markets are participating in this initiative: Austria, Belgium, Dubai, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
ABOUT THE MAC AIDS FUND
The MAC AIDS Fund, the heart and soul of MAC Cosmetics, was established in 1994 to support men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS globally. MAF is a pioneer in HIV/AIDS funding, providing financial support to organizations working in under served regions and with under served populations. As the largest corporate non-pharmaceutical funder in the arena, MAF is committed to addressing the link between poverty and HIV/AIDS by supporting diverse organizations around the world that provide a wide range of services to people living with HIV/AIDS. To date, MAF has raised $130 million USD exclusively through the sale of MACs VIVA GLAM lipstick and Lipglass, donating 100 percent of the sale price to fight HIV/AIDS. For more information, visit
www.macaidsfund.org.
So get out there and VIVA GLAM it up this holiday season, and know your $$ are doing great good!
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