The 21st International AIDS Conference now underway in Durban, South Africa; has thus reaffirmed that despite remarkable global progress in tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, much work remains to be done to protect children and adolescents from infection, sickness and death.
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The Prince will join delegates at Aids 2016, being held in Durban, a week after he led by example and was publicly tested for HIV at an NHS sexual health clinic in London. Despite this awesome progress, most people today are still frightened and stigmatised at the notion of taking an HIV test.
He follows in the footsteps of his mother Princess Diana, who was a fierce advocate for HIV awareness and support.
The latest data from Public Health England shows in 2014 there were an estimated 103,700 people living with the condition in the United Kingdom, with 17 per cent of these not aware of their HIV infection.
“People now live long, happy lives with HIV, when the virus is effectively managed with anti-retrovirals”. Sub-Saharan Africa continued to be a challenge, accounting for three-quarters of new HIV infections (1.8 million) in 2015. Nelson Mandela’s words from the 2000 International AIDS Conference in Durban still ring true, “In the face of the grave threat posed by HIV/AIDS, we have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our people”.
We need to step up and make sure no young person feels any shame in asking for an HIV test.
Almost half of those who tested newly positive started ART within a week, Petersen said, as they were introduced to and welcomed by local clinic staff immediately. Without education and empowerment‚ HIV would win.
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But just imagine what would happen if in places like Lesotho and throughout Africa, children were given the tools to protect their health, to speak out against stigma and discrimination, and to support their friends and family. They say, “The GBD estimates of HIV incidence are significantly lower (two to ten times) than the reported number of newly diagnosed HIV cases for most countries in North America, Europe, central Asia, and Australia”.
