Annie is a UK embassador of the charity, and the stone bears her handprints and those of a 16 boy with HIV, along with the inscription ”It’s in our hands to win the fight against HIV”.

The memorial will be sited at the City Chambers on the High Street.

Edinburgh has a special relationship with the former South African president, since he was given the freedom of the city in 1997. He is one of only five people still alive who have been given the honour.

Annie Lennox said:

“As well as honouring Nelson Mandela, it gives the passer-by an opportunity to pause and reflect upon the significance of the HIV/Aids pandemic, which is devastating the lives of millions people across the continent of Africa and across the entire globe.”

To learn more about the amazing work 46664 does, check out it’s channel on t5m.

What do you think about celebrities becoming involved in charity work?

A straight-faced Stephen Merchant shares this dismal fact with t5m, in his effort to support World AIDS Day and Nelson Mandela’s 46664 charity. He unites in a force of celebrity advocates to raise awareness to the epidemic.

Stephen Merchant expresses the need to help the children worse affected by the AIDS epidemic, and the role that governments should play in the effort, and repeats the effort’s mantra, ‘It’s in our hands.’

‘National governments, international partners and communities, are failing to provide adequate support for the 15 million children orphaned by AIDS, and for the millions of other children made vulnerable by the epidemic.’

‘Over 30 countries say that the stigma and discrimination against people living with AIDS still lives on. And indeed continues to spread almost like the disease itself.’

Battling further discrimination against the millions of people living with the disease is a main objective in Nelson Mandela’s 46664 campaign.

“In a world that is divided along many lines, we now have a unique opportunity to bring us all together around a common challenge”, Mandela said. “In ensuring that the millions of people who are infected and affected by HIV and Aids are not forgotten, we will not only make a difference to their lives, we will also make a difference to our lives as well. We owe this at least to humanity.”  - Nelson Mandela

‘In the time it takes for me to tell you this, at least 3 sub-Saharan African children have been orphaned due to AIDS.’

That means that by the time you finish reading this, almost ten children have lost the love of a parent, home, and way of life, many before the age of 14. This rate is shockingly high. With the right medication, people living with HIV/AIDS can live a normal life, remaining able to take care of children and loved ones.

It’s in our hands.

Penelope Cruz is one of the many celebrity ambassadors for Nelson Mandela’s charity 46664. The Spanish actress sincerely speaks about the violent spread of AIDS, it’s affect on the children of the world, and why we must work together to battle the epidemic.

‘5000 children meet this fate every day. This number can and must be reduced. It’s up to us to help them. It’s in our hands.’

In support of Nelson Mandela’s 46664 charity, Olivier Martinez steps up to spread awareness of the reality of HIV/AIDS in our world today.

‘Every eleven seconds, someone becomes infected with AIDS.’ The statistics he shares are more than alarming. Olivier joins many other celebrities in speaking out against HIV/AIDS, and with their efforts, and the efforts of the rest of the world, we can and must fight the disease. It’s in our hands.

Here, actor Christian Slater tells t5m some alarming facts about the rapid spread of the disease. In the 25 years since AIDS was registered as a disease, 65 million people have been infected, and over 25 million people have died.

With support and awareness, this number can be decreased. It’s in our hands.

46664 is an African response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic that invites the whole world to take the fight in hand. It’s our aim to raise awareness overall and educate the younger generations in particular. By gaining global backing for the cause, we will also raise funds to directly assist the many HIV/AIDS projects we support. We intend to do this by using our international ambassadors to spread our messages of hope, our calls to action, our pleas for compassion and our requests for assistance and support for those living with HIV/AIDS.
46664 (we say four, double six, six four) was Nelson Mandela’s prison number when he was imprisoned on Robben Island, off Cape Town in South Africa. He was jailed in 1964 for 27 years for leading the liberation movement against apartheid and for his impassioned stance on the rights of everyone to live in freedom. He was prisoner number 466, imprisoned in 1964. The Robben Island prisoners were never referred to by their names, but rather by their numbers and year of imprisonment - hence 46664 was Nelson Mandela’s number.
This was very much the strategy of the apartheid regime, to reduce those people fighting for the right to freedom to nameless numbers.
It was for precisely this reason that Mr. Mandela decided to use this powerful, symbolic number in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Through this simple, poignant means he has demonstrated and communicated to the world that people must never be reduced to simple numbers - we are human beings, all equal, and those infected and living with HIV/AIDS have the same right to live and to be treated as equals.
This is how the number 46664 became the icon for promoting Nelson Mandela’s global HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.