The Duke of Sussex has urged people to “know your status” and get tested for HIV, saying he hopes to carry on his mother’s work to help eradicate stigma and misunderstanding.
He told former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas, who had a positive HIV test, that there had been a huge change with people openly talking about the condition in the 35 years after his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, opened the first Aids unit at Middlesex hospital in London. But more must be done to make progress towards the UK goal of ending new HIV cases by 2030, he added.
In a video conversation released online to mark National HIV Testing Week, Harry said he had been influenced by the suffering caused by the virus during visits to Lesotho and Botswana. “Add in the fact that my mum’s work was unfinished, I feel obligated to try and continue that as much as possible. I can never fill her shoes, especially in this particular space, what she did, what she stood for and how vocal she was on this issue,” he said.
He said: “Every single one of us has a duty, or at least an opportunity, to get tested ourselves to make it easier for everybody else to get tested.” Noting there had been a drop in HIV testing during Covid, he added that with people regularly testing for coronavirus, it should be “ingrained in us that that’s what we need to do, to know our status in order to be able to keep other people safe”.
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
