Elton John and Britain's Prince Harry launched a new initiative to break the cycle of HIV transmission (AFP Photo/Robin Utrecht) |
Amsterdam (AFP) - Elton John joined forces with Britain's Prince Harry to launch a $1.2 billion initiative on Tuesday to "break the cycle" of HIV transmission by targeting young men, among whom infections are on the rise.
On the
second day of a major international AIDS conference in Amsterdam, the two lent
their mega-wattage star power to calls for action to end the lingering stigma
around the virus and protect generations to come.
"Young
people are the only age group where HIV infections are rising, not
falling," warned rock star and veteran AIDS campaigner Elton John as he
announced the launch of the MenStar Coalition.
"We
have to do much, much more to bring men, especially younger men more fully into
the fold," he insisted.
The
coalition brings together different partners, including the UN's Unitaid and
the US fund PEPFAR, as John warned that 24- to 35-year-old men were accessing
HIV testing and treatment at "unacceptably low rates".
Much work
has been done to protect women and girls but "we can't solve the whole
problem if we are only addressing half the situation," John said.
"If we
want to win this fight, if we want to end AIDS once and for all, we must make
men part of the solution" and teach them to protect themselves, "not
only their wives and girlfriends, their sisters, and daughters, but also
critically their brothers and their sons."
The
countries with the highest rates of new HIV infections (AFP Photo/Cecilia
SANCHEZ)
|
'Dangerous complacency'
Some 15,000
delegates -- researchers, campaigners, activists and people living with the HIV
virus which causes AIDS -- have gathered for the five-day war council, amid
dire warnings the AIDS epidemic could yet spiral out of control.
"The
progress we have fought so hard for is at risk from a dangerous
complacency," Prince Harry told conference delegates.
"Too
many around the world are still ignoring the damaging knock-on effects on
education and other community services for not prioritising HIV prevention and
treatment."
The new
initiative was focused on "the tough but essential work of truly changing
mindsets," the Duke of Sussex said.
"Inspired
by the growing alarm of the rate of new HIV infections among young women, this
campaign is bravely tackling the root of this problem -- the lack of awareness
of HIV prevention amongst hard-to-reach young men."
He urged
people to unite around the "smashing of a deadly stigma" surrounding
HIV, "and calling out the prejudice that is still there".
South
African actress Charlize Theron agreed as she addressed the day's opening
plenary session entitled: "Breaking the barriers of inequity".
"We
have come a long way as a global community from that moral panic that defined
early stages of this epidemic," she told the audience.
But she
warned that "most of us now know and understand that HIV is not just about
sex or sexuality... We know it is linked to the second-class status of women
and girls worldwide."
Britain's Elton John and Prince Harry launch a $1.2 billion initiative to fight AIDS transmission by targeting the education of young men, during a major international AIDS conference in Amsterdam pic.twitter.com/wCizRktKBI— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 24, 2018
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