AceShowbiz - Bono kicked off World AIDS Day in Australia on Wednesday, December 1 by calling on people to demand their country's government officials provide more financial help to fight the disease during the global recession.

The humanitarian rocker is committed to raising awareness of the disease and set up the ONE campaign to help fight the AIDS epidemic and combat global poverty. He headed Down Under to support World AIDS Day and during a ceremony in Sydney, urged government chiefs across the world to invest more cash into the cause.

Bono tells Reuters, "Times are hard in the Western world. (Health agencies are) fighting hard for funding. In recessionary times, people have to tell their politicians this is important to them. Some people think that the pandemic is on its way out and it's job done� It is really not so."

The rocker then joined Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to light up Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge in red to support the awareness day. Bono has been in Australia since last week and praised leaders over the weekend for pledging to spend 0.5 per cent of the country's gross national income on foreign aid.