AntiHIVirus provides an animated interactive platform which is intended as a fun and engaging way to learn about HIV and AIDS. Standard Chartered explains: "As sexual health is a private and sensitive matter, the website is designed to avoid cultural sensitivities and be accessible to everyone who wishes to find out more about the virus and may be shy about seeking information elsewhere."

Offered in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, and Korean, the interactive website features cartoon film episodes, fact sheets, quizzes, an interactive map, and a blog. At the centre of AntiHIVirus is an animated character, "Mr. HIV", who plans to attack and destroy the human race. After watching the 6 cartoons/video segments (each about 1.5 minutes long), visitors to the website can take a short test to prove they know the facts to provide a lifetime's protection against HIV. When they pass the test, they can upload photos and comments to the "see who's protected" map page. The site also incorporates hard facts about HIV and AIDS; blogs from Standard Charter's staff volunteers called "HIV Champions" writing from various countries (see below); an interactive map tracking the number of people protected through the website; and details about partner organisations working with Standard Chartered on HIV education.

HIV/AIDS.

According to organisers, "As a major bank operating in developing countries, Standard Chartered sees first hand how HIV and AIDS can have a devastating impact on our markets and communities. We believe that education and awareness raising are the best way to tackle the epidemic by preventing people getting the virus in the first place (or avoiding passing it on)."

Launched in 1999, Standard Chartered's HIV education programme has 3 strands: face-to-face education, detailed online e-learning, and animated web-learning (as above). These programmes are run through a global network of staff volunteers, whom are deemed "HIV Champions". These Champions deliver face-to-face workshops supplemented by a range of HIV education materials that cover the basic facts about the virus and are designed to be easily adapted to suit the needs of different audiences and cultures. They work with external organisations to help them develop a tailored workplace HIV education programme and train volunteers inside the organisations to be peer educators. All the HIV Champions received refresher training in 2008, and regional "train the trainer" refresher sessions were held in Asia and South America. The workshop gave an opportunity to discuss many issues surrounding HIV, supporting the company's belief that "face-to-face education provides a friendly, non-threatening environment to discuss challenging topics and will more likely encourage behaviour change than online education alone."

Since 2003, all its employees (currently over 70,000 globally) are required to complete an online e-Learning module available in 10 languages and to take part in face-to-face workshops conducted by a co-worker.

Standard Chartered pledged to the Clinton Global Initiative that it would educate 1 million people on HIV and AIDS by March 2010. In 2008, they more than doubled the network of HIV Champions to 1,000 across 50 countries. The goal is to train 7,000 peer educators in other companies who will go on to educate 150 people each. So far, the company has trained over 4,000 peer educators. So far, they have secured commitments from organisations to educate over 800,000 people.

Standard Chartered shares its HIV education tools with other organisations free of charge; as of this writing, over 50 partners use these tools to educate their own workforces.

In 2008:

• In Cote d'Ivoire, Standard Chartered's HIV Champions educated 10,000 students on HIV and AIDS.
• Standard Chartered India worked with small businesses to educate over 200 long-distance lorry drivers and their families.
• Standard Chartered employees in Nigeria, led by the country Chief Executive Officer (CEO), visited a Lagos clinic for pregnant women with HIV to increase awareness about the virus.
• In Singapore, the Bank provided free HIV testing coupons to 1,000 readers of a popular monthly women's magazine.
• In Sri Lanka, Standard Chartered's CEO initiated the country's Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS and arranged for three local celebrities to participate in an HIV and AIDS awareness campaign for World AIDS Day.
• Across markets in Thailand, Malaysia, and Dubai, Standard Chartered used automated teller machines (ATMs) to communicate information on local HIV and AIDS testing centres and "know your status" messages.