Prince Harry highlighted the importance of knowing your HIV status this National HIV Testing Week in a discussion about tackling stigma.
Speaking with friend and campaigner Gareth Thomas for the latter’s organisation, Tackle HIV, the two discussed it being 35 years since Princess Diana opened the UK’s first specialist HIV/AIDS unit at Middlesex Hospital.
Harry called his late mother’s work “unfinished business” and committed to continuing her advocacy for those living with HIV.
“I feel obligated to try and continue that as much as possible,” he told the former rugby player. “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.”
Diana challenged HIV stigma at the height of the AIDS epidemic and is credited in playing a major role in changing attitudes towards it in the UK.
During her visit to the aforementioned hospital in April 1987, she said: “HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it. What’s more, you can share their homes, their workplaces, and their playgrounds and toys.”
With 7 to the 13 of February marking National HIV Testing Week in the UK, Harry encouraged everyone to get tested and know their status.
“Every single one of us has a duty, or at least an opportunity, to get tested ourselves or to make it easier for everybody else to get tested,” the 37-year-old explained.
“And then it just becomes a regular thing like anything else. This testing week, especially in the UK, or wherever you are in the world, go and get a test. Let people know that you know your status. Do it.”
Thomas has worked endlessly to raise awareness for HIV ever since he shared his positive diagnosis with the world in 2019.
“I take my HIV medication which is one tablet, and I feel that my day then begins,” he told Harry in the newly released video. “I’m very active, I go to the gym, I work as hard as I possibly can, and I think with that appreciation of life comes this sense of not being selfish.”
HIV diagnoses are continuing their downward trend in the UK, falling from 3,950 in 2019 to 2,630 in 2020.
Click here to learn more about HIV testing in the UK.
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