Yesterday Prince Harry visited the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, to listen in on a discussion about HIV and other infectious diseases, for his charity, Sentebale.
Prince Harry called the lack of HIV information for young people ‘absurd’ in an event at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Kensington Palace)
The Royal heard more about the school’s global efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases and called the education for young people surrounding the virus ‘absurd’.
“To me it is totally absurd that in today’s world that young people, the first time they know or the first time they hear anything about HIV and Aids, is probably by the time it is too late,” he said.
The event was part of Sentebale’s ‘Let Youth Lead’ initiative, providing a platform for young people to encourage their peers to test for HIV and be the change for the needs of people their age.
“HIV needs to be treated exactly the same as any other disease, and between us hopefully we can eradicate the stigma and give these young people an opportunity to stand up,” Harry finished. He has been championing the cause, just like his mother, for a number of years, and even recently took a HIV test in front of the press to show how easy it is.
Prince Harry tells a @Sentebale roundtable that “education is power” when it comes to HIV #LetYouthLead pic.twitter.com/MAbVgZHLrA
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 10, 2017
Sentebale – which Harry founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho back in 2006 – aims at tackling the disease in the mountainous kingdom in souther Africa, which is rife amongst the population, leaving many children orphaned. The charity has now helped more than 21,000 young people, with expansion plans in the making.
A test kit, which is being trialled in Malawi, was also demonstrated at the event in front of the Prince; women are given the tests at antenatal clinics to pass on to their husbands to test for HIV at home.
Harry learnt about Peek during the roundtable discussion, an organisation that seeks to improve access to eye care, and its screening programme in schools in Botswana that uses an app that teachers can use to test children’s eyesight.
Other initiatives to help with infectious diseases were explained and shown to Prince Harry (Kensington Palace)
He then introduced three young people, who had travelled from Lesotho and Botswana, to talk about their experiences of living with HIV.
Tloto, an 18-year-old girl from Botswana, said: “I decided to discuss my status so I can grant them courage, I can give hope to those who are hopeless.”
She was joined by Ts’epang, 19, from Lesotho and Kananelo, a 22-year-old man also from Lesotho, who all spent a week in London preparing to speak to global leaders in HIV and Aids.
These @Sentebale advocates met HRH earlier today at Kensington Palace to talk about their experiences of the programme #LetYouthLead pic.twitter.com/1wojQyoeyS
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 10, 2017
The trio met Harry at Kensington Palace before the event, and a picture was tweeted.
1 comment
Great news, HIV education is key, as well as self testing from time to time.