What does the number 13 mean to you? For many in some parts of the world, 13 is regarded as an unlucky number. Due to this fear, some tall buildings have resorted to skipping the thirteenth floor, simply by numbering it "14" (though it's really still the thirteenth floor) or by designating the floor 12a, anything to avoid using the number 13.

 For us at the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) the number 13 is real.   According to the 2004 UNAIDS report `Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis’, for every ten African men infected with HIV, there are 13 African women. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 13.1m women are infected. By focusing on the number 13 the statement AWDF is making is that the situation can be turned around.  By mobilising human and financial resources, women need not be infected and those who are infected need not die, but live positively. Even though the statistics have changed since this UNAIDS report, AWDF will symbolically freeze these grim statistics by using the number 13 as a brand for the campaign to mobilise funds and resources to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on women.

In November 2005, AWDF launched a HIV/AIDS Fund in order to increase the amount of resources available to women’s groups in Africa working on HIV/AIDS. The 13 Campaign was conceptualised by one of AWDF’s guests at the launch, Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, Executive Secretary of the World YWCA Cisco, a global movement of 25 million women and girls in 124 countries.

The Campaign seeks to use the number 13, to get individuals and groups to mobilise thirteen others, and also to make donations with the number 13 in mind.  People can, therefore, make a donation of US$13, US$130, US$1,300, US$130,000,000 etc