34 high profile stars and leaders have called upon the Prime Minister and G7 leaders to financially commit to the continued fight against HIV and AIDS.
Influential names in media, music, politics, and activism have signed a letter in solidarity hoping to draw the attention of Boris Johnson as he prepares to Chair the G7 Summit in early June.
The signed letter addresses the disruption caused toward HIV prevention and treatment due to COVID-19. It also highlights a growing concern over new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths.
In response to recent AIDS resource cuts, the letter urges the Prime Minister and G7 leaders to financially back the commitment to end AIDS by 2030 and to invest in key infrastructure to help manage COVID-19 and future health threats.
“Over four decades, communities, NGOs and health systems across the globe have worked together to end AIDS. G7 leaders already have access to a priceless resource in the fight against future pandemics and it’s time for them to recognise this strength. Now is not the moment to be losing focus on one health crisis on account of another,” said Christine Stegling, Executive Director of Frontline AIDS says:
Chief Executive Officer of Elton John AIDS Foundation, Anne Aslett provided a statement calling for Boris Johnson to act. “Over 38 million people are currently living with HIV globally, 12 million of whom are not on HIV treatment and so highly vulnerable to COVID,” Anne wrote.
“Failure to protect this population could see COVID deaths spiral and will do nothing to stem the rise of new HIV cases we are now seeing for the first time in years as a consequence of coronavirus. These two pandemics cannot be seen separately otherwise the fight against AIDS and COVID will suffer. G7 leaders must draw on the expertise from 40 years of fighting AIDS to address COVID-19 and future health emergencies.”
Lord Fowler stepped down as Lord Speaker at the end of April. He is now an ambassador for UNAIDS highlighted the need to address the “new moment of crisis”. “The UK has a decades long record in supporting global coordinated action to end HIV and AIDS,” Lord Fowler said.
“It is vital now that UK and its G7 partners rise to this new moment of crisis. You can’t beat one pandemic by letting another one rise. You have to take on both. The HIV response is also a vital support structure for the fight against Covid-19. Now is time to step up, not step back.”
‘We must end COVID-19, and AIDS, everywhere, together.’
Ahead of this year’s #G7 Summit, @eltonofficial joins over 30 world experts and leaders in a joint call to @BorisJohnson to step up the fight against #HIV.
Read the letter here 👇 https://t.co/PEpYdsnSlR
— Elton John AIDS Foundation (@ejaf) May 28, 2021
The full list of signatories include:
- Sir Elton John – Artist & Founder, Elton John AIDS Foundation
- David Furnish – Chairman, Elton John AIDS Foundation
- Jacquelyne Alesi – Chair GNP+ Board, on behalf of GNP+, the Global Network of People Living with HIV
- Anne Aslett, Chief Executive, Elton John AIDS Foundation
- Joyce Banda -President of the Republic of Malawi (2012-2014) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation
- Ricardo Baptista Leite -President of the Global Parliamentarians Network to End Infectious Diseases
- Dame Inga Beale – Chair, HIV Commission
- Linda Gail Bekker – Professor of Medicine and Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV centre, University of Cape Town and former President of International AIDS Society (2016-2018)Edwin Cameron, Former Supreme Court Justice – South Africa
- Stephen DoughtyMP – Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS
- Mark Dybul – Former Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Professor of Medicine and Co-Director Center of Global Health Practice and Impact, Georgetown University
- Lord Fowler – Former Lord Speaker
- Deborah Gold – Chief Executive, National AIDS Trust
- Eric Goosby – UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis, Former United States Global AIDS Coordinator
- Ian Green – Chief Executive, Terence Higgins Trust
- The Right Honourable Justine Greening, Former Secretary of State for International Development
- Tom Hart, Interim CEO – The ONE Campaign
- Felicita Hikuam, Director – AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa
- Richard Horton FRCP FMedSci – Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet
- Dr Mo Ibrahim – Founder and Chair, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
- Michel Kazatchkine – Former Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Senior Fellow, Global Health Center, the Graduate Institute for International Affairs and Development, Geneva
- Ban Ki-moon – 8th Secretary General of the United Nations
- Annie Lennox OBE – Singer, Songwriter, Activist & Founder of The Circle
- Lord Mark Malloch Brown – President, Open Society Foundations
- Andrew Mitchell MP – Former Secretary of State for International Development
- Festus G. Mogae – President of the Republic of Botswana (1998-2008) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation
- Prof Baron Peter Piot KCMG, Former Executive Director – UNAIDS. Director London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Mike Podmore – Director, STOPAIDS
- Peter Sands – Executive Director, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Christine Stegling – Executive Director, Frontline AIDS
- Baroness Sugg – Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive and former DFID/FCDO Minister
- Charlize Theron – Founder of Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project
- Gareth Thomas CBE – Former Welsh Rugby Captain
- Princess Mabel van Oranje – Initiator & Board Chair of Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, Co-Founder & Board Chair of VOW for Girls – Vow to End Child Marriage
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