Read: World leaders on HIV urge Boris Johnson to tackle the new AIDS emergency at the G7
More than 34 world experts and leaders in the movement to end AIDS, have signed an open letter urging Boris Johnson to tackle the growing emergency on HIV and AIDS when the G7 meets in June.
Spearheaded by Frontline AIDS and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and backed by organisations including the Global Network of People Living with HIV, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, STOPAIDS, Terence Higgins Trust and the National AIDS Trust, the letter addresses the Prime Minister as he prepares to Chair the Summit on 11 – 13 June, with a call to ensure the progress made in the HIV response is protected and built upon in the struggle against COVID-19 and future pandemics.
The letter highlights the long history of UK leadership on HIV, but warns these critical gains are in danger because of fallout from the Covid crisis, exacerbated by recent UK aid cuts, which have seen a significant reduction in vital support to end AIDS. It calls on the Prime Minister and G7 leaders to fully resource their commitment to end AIDS by 2030 and to invest in the existing infrastructure of the global HIV response as a key strategy to manage COVID-19 and future health threats.
With HIV prevention and treatment services disrupted or shut down by COVID-19 – in many places overnight – the letter highlights mounting concern that the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths worldwide may begin to rise for the first time in decades.
Ahead of the summit, the UN High Level Meeting on HIV on 8 – 10 June and the 40th Anniversary of the first CDC report on AIDS on 5th June, the signatories argue that now is a vital opportunity for the G7 to rally the world to act to tackle HIV, COVID-19 and future pandemics together.
The full list of signatories includes:
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