The 46664 campaign began in 2002 when Mr Mandela realised that to reach the youth of the world he needed to engage the support of the people who most appeal to them.

46664 (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 Mr Mandela’s number.

This was typical of the strategy of the apartheid regime, to reduce its opponents 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 Mr Mandela’s global HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

He famously handed over the fight at a concert in Hyde Park, London, in 2008, with the words “It’s in our hands”.

46664 is a South African-based, independent, not-for-profit entity wholly owned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

British Airways	CBC Television
Coca-Cola Foundation	Euroleague Basketball
iClips network	Intercontinental London Park Lane
Investec	Kaiser Network
Mercedes Benz	Nelson Mandela Foundation
Not on TV	Zain

To condense all of Nelson Mandela’s achievements into one chronology would be impossible. As a result, we do not claim that our work here is comprehensive. Below you will find a brief chronology of important events in his life.