Prince Harry has delivered an emotional speech to the International AIDS Conference in Durban.
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The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are today announcing the first two recipients of The LGBT Fund.
The study is being launched at the International AIDS meeting in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday 19 July.
Speaking in the video, which was posted on The Royal Family’s Facebook account, he said: “It’s normal for me, even though I’m not from this part of London or being the person that I am and the people I am sitting around, I am still here being tested”. 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”.
Harry, whose charity Sentebale already focuses on supporting HIV-positive young people in Lesotho, is now aiming to spread the message to his generation that the fight against HIV and Aids has not yet been won.
He said he wants to ensure that LGBT people are protected if they are denied medical treatment or arrested.
In the a year ago, he said, “1.1 million people died of AIDS, and 2.1 million were infected”.
A research by Global Burden of Disease said that HIV infections have increased in 74 countries between 2005 and 2015.
Gates, meanwhile, warned that Africa is “chronically underprepared” for a demographic bulge in young people, who are most at risk for HIV.
Britain’s Prince Harry has called on the youth to step up and lead the fight against Human Immuno Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (Aids), saying it all starts with overcoming the fear of getting tested.
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.
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In 2014 nearly 85,500 people were accessing HIV treatment and care, more than double the number (41,157) in 2004, and a 5% increase on 2013.
