Hallmark Cards Inc. is joining a growing list of U.S. companies and others who are teaming up with Bono of U2 to fight AIDS in Africa.The Kansas City greeting card producer on Thursday unveiled an initial line of 23 greeting cards and other products affiliated with the fundraising initiative known as (Product) Red, created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, nephew of John F. Kennedy and son of R. Sargent Shriver, the first head of the Peace Corps.

Donations from the sale of products will help raise money for the Swiss-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

A larger collection of 150 additional cards and gift items is scheduled to appear in stores and online in January.

Eight percent of what Hallmark charges retailers for those products will be donated to the fund to help fight AIDS in Africa and also to provide jobs and support the economies of communities where some of the (Product) Red products are being made.

Hallmark said the partnership marks the “largest social-impact initiative” in the history of the company.

The company estimates that the donation from the sale of each $4.99 (Product) Red greeting card with sound, for example, will provide a contribution large enough for a single-dose treatment to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV from mother to child during childbirth.

Since (Product) Red’s creation in March 2006, participating companies, including Sprint Nextel, have raised more than $45 million, chiefly by donating an average 40 percent of their profits from the sales of selected products.

The fund has raised about $10 billion and committed $7 billion to help prevent or treat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in 136 countries.

More details about the effort can be found by going online to www.hallmark.com/red, www.joinred.com and www. theglobalfund.org.

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