The Motsepe Foundation has committed R11-million to (Red) to support the Global Fund’s drive to eliminate aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

This followed the announcement on Friday by (Red) that its new partner, the Bank of America, had committed $10-million, and with donations by the Gates Foundation, SAP and the Motsepe Foundation, the initiative had attracted a total of $22-million.

(Red) and its partners, which also included Starbucks and Apple, besides others, promoted a global drive to end mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus and achieve an Aids-free generation by 2015. The organisation had already generated more than $240-million for its fund recipient, the Global Fund, since being founded in 2006 by rock group U2 lead singer Bono and Bobby Shriver.

The initiative aimed to drive corporate donations to provide grants for treatment, testing and prevention and care services in eight African countries, namely Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.

South African billionaire and Motsepe Foundation chairperson Patrice Motsepe said while outstanding work had been undertaken, there was still a lot of work to be done.

With the additional funding from the Bank of America, (Red) would raise more than $250-billion.

“Bank of America coming on as a (Red) partner to help the Global Fund's efforts to eliminate Aids is great news. It's the kind of game-changing influence that will not just deliver millions of dollars, but raise consciousness and keep public pressure on putting an end to this devastating pandemic which has already taken the lives of 35-million people,” Bono said in a statement over the weekend.

The parties would now move to raise awareness among Bank of America’s vast customer base and more than 240 000 employees, providing opportunities for them to take action.