Prince Harry
has met with gay men and other minorities living with HIV for an awareness
campaign.
The 32-year-old
royal is carrying on with his mother’s work after spending time with London
sexual health charity Naz, a group made of sexual and racial minorities aiming
to help people ‘live life to the fullest’.
The meeting
yesterday came after he was tested for HIV live on Facebook in July.
Speaking at the International AIDS
conference, he praised activists like Elton John and Nelson Mandela – as well
as his mother Princess Diana – for the work that has been done to spread
awareness of HIV and AIDS.
‘When my mother held the hand of a man
dying of AIDS in an East London hospital, no one would have imagined that just
over a quarter of a century later treatment would exist that could see
HIV-positive people live full, healthy, loving lives,’ he said.
‘But we now face a new risk – the risk
of complacency.
‘As people with HIV live longer, AIDS
is a topic that has drifted from the headlines. And with that drift of
attention, we risk a real drift of funding and of action to beat the virus.
The prince added: ‘What I believe is
that we cannot beat HIV without giving young people in every country the voice
they deserve.
‘Without education and without
empowerment, HIV will win.’
World AIDS Day takes place on 1
December.
H.R.H. Prince Harry is also a co-founder of an orphanage in Lesotho that houses children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. This is but one example of his involvement in HIV issues not only in the U.K. but throughout the Commonwealth. Good job! Thanks for posting this, my blogging brother! Naked hugs!
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