Prince Harry vows to continue Diana's 'unfinished' HIV fight in video chat from LA
10 February 2022, 10:38 | Updated: 10 February 2022, 11:38
Prince Harry hails Princess Diana over HIV campaigning
Prince Harry has promised to continue the “unfinished” work of his mother Princess Diana in reducing misunderstanding of the virus.
In a video with former Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas for National HIV Testing Week, Prince Harry stressed the importance of “knowing your status” and getting tested.
Speaking from his LA home, Harry 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.”
He said he was exposed to seeing how devastating the virus could be during his visits to Botswana and Lesotho.
Prince Harry: 'We have to finish the job'
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“Add in the fact that my mum’s work was unfinished, I feel obligated to try and continue that as much as possible”, he said.
“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.”
Princess Diana was a key spokesperson during the peak of the endemic in Britain 1980s and 1990s. She opened the first Aids unit in Middlesex Hospital in West London in 1987.
Prince Harry says people have a ‘responsibility’ to get tested for HIV
“There will always be people or groups who may have agendas to try to keep this out of the conversation, but what my mum started all those years ago was about creating empathy and understanding.”
Rugby player Gareth Thomas was diagnosed with HIV and says that real change has been made in people actively talking about the virus in public discourse.
“I take my HIV medication which is one tablet, and I feel that my day then begins. 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”.
Mr. Thomas launched Tackle HIV, a charity to educate people about he virus, since he revealed his diagnosis in 2019.
He “thought [it would be] a life ending condition, it’s actually turned into being a life affirming condition.”
There are 106,890 people living with HIV in the UK in 2019, according to the Terence Higgins Trust (THT). Scientific improvements have cut the mortality rate of the virus.
But, Prince Harry says more work needs to be done if the UK will meet its current plans to end new cases of the virus by 2030.
“We have to finish the job.”
