Alan Cumming is urging his fans to use their social networking pages to raise awareness of HIV and Aids.
The X2 star, who is a longterm supporter of amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, embarked on a charity trip to South Africa earlier this year (10) to highlight the cause and was overjoyed to discover that the number of cases of mother to child infection has drastically dropped in recent years and should be eradicated by 2015.
He's joining U2 rocker Bono's RED venture to continue raising awareness about the disease and how it can be prevented - and he wants his online fans to join the drive.
In a post on his blog to mark World AIDS Day this week (01Dec10), he writes, "I discovered that the techniques of preventing mother to child HIV infection have become incredibly successful and it is generally believed that it's possible to stop all mother/child transmission of the virus by 2015!!
"Do you see what that means?! Yes, the possibility of the first generation in almost 30 years where virtually no child is born with HIV. It's the best news I've heard in years!
"On this World AIDS day, the lovely people at RED want to highlight the good news and step up the efforts so that that statistic comes true.
"Starting with the Sydney Opera House being turned red by Bono, many landmarks around the world will be lit up in red too.
"And here's how you can help... turn your Facebook page red. Share a 2015 tweet using #turnred. Ask people to 'shout' out on Foursquare with #turnred.
"All of these small actions will add up. Each time someone changes their profile picture on Facebook, or tweets using #turnred, the message is mapped to a data visualizer map. I know, it' so James Bond isn't it?!
"Each action helps turn their time-zone on the map the color red. The more activity, the deeper the color.
"So help turn the whole world a deep, deep red... and look forward to the possibility of a generation free from HIV/AIDS."
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