Prince Harry, following in his mother Diana's footsteps, is making AIDS his cause, and using his regal bully pulpit to remind the world's leaders not to be complacent about the pandemic.
"As people with HIV live longer, AIDS is a topic that has drifted from the headlines. And with that drift of attention, we risk a real drift of funding and of action to beat the virus," he said Thursday at the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.
"We cannot lose a sense of urgency, because despite all the progress we have made, HIV remains among the most pressing and urgent of global challenges," Prince Harry said.
Last year, an estimated two million people worldwide were infected with HIV, and 1.1 million died of AIDS.
Both infections and deaths are falling, with one exception – among adolescents.
Prince Harry noted that HIV-AIDS is the number one cause of death among adolescents in Africa, and the number two cause of death in young people worldwide.
"We cannot beat HIV without giving young people in every country the voice they deserve. Without education and without empowerment, HIV will win," he said.
Sir Elton John, a musician and long-time AIDS activist, has also made the plight of young people with HIV-AIDS a focus of his foundation's work. He noted that more than 1,000 adolescents aged 15 to 19 are being infected with HIV every day, yet they are far less likely to be tested and treated than adults.
"Young people are being left out and left behind in the AIDS response," Sir Elton said. "And it needs to stop. It needs to stop here and now."
Sir Elton – as Prince Harry and Bill Gates have done in recent days – urged world leaders to maintain and bolster funding for HIV-AIDS, and singled out Canada for praise as a country "still committed to fighting AIDS." (Of the 14 largest international donors to AIDS, Canada is the only one to increase its funding in the past year.)
Earlier in the week, the musician also pledged his foundation's money to help gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Africa who are criminalized and stigmatized for their sexuality.
Prince Harry, in his address, made only a passing reference to his mother, recalling the time in 1991 when, during a visit to Casey House in Toronto, she reached out and held the hand of a man dying of AIDS.
At the time – when fear of AIDS was still common and stigma was rampant – it was a profound gesture that made headlines worldwide and helped propel Diana, Princess of Wales, to iconic status.
Sir Elton, who was friends with Diana, said her son has a similar power to do good. "He has his mother's compassion, her sense of responsibility, her caring and her determination to make the world a better place," he said as Prince Harry sat nearby on the stage with his head bowed.
"Prince Harry, you can take this fight forward. You are the future of the AIDS fight," Sir Elton said.
Prince Harry last week took an AIDS test live on Facebook, as a way to draw attention to the importance of testing and the availability of rapid tests. (His test was negative.)
In recent days, the Prince travelled to Lesotho, a country of only two million, where one in three children is an AIDS orphan and where 21,000 young people age 15 to 19 are living with HIV.
Prince Harry, along with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, have co-founded an AIDS group called Sentebale, which supports orphans and young people with HIV-AIDS.