Advertisement

US must lead on AIDS funding: Elton John

US must lead on AIDS funding: Elton John

Elton John believes there will be an end of AIDS in his lifetime - but only if the US keeps leading the world in bankrolling its eradication.

The British pop singer and AIDS activist was the star turn at a Senate hearing on future funding for the United States’ core global AIDS initiative.

“The AIDS epidemic is not over and America’s continued leadership is critical,” the 68-year-old John said.

“There is a window of opportunity before us, a window through which we can very clearly see the end of AIDS within my lifetime.

“We cannot afford to let the window close if our efforts flag,“ added the founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised more than $US321 million ($A402 million) since 1992 for AIDS treatment and prevention.

John was speaking to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who are considering funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) going forward.

The program, which has requested $US6.542 billion for fiscal 2016, was launched by president George W Bush in 2003 and substantially beefed up by his successor Barack Obama.

US efforts to wipe out AIDS in the developing world enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, with Senator Lindsey Graham saying “terrorists” would likely be the only people to oppose its funding.

When Graham asked John what his worst fear was going forward, he replied: “The worst fear is stigma, to be honest with you.”

In Africa especially, he said, “draconian laws” are forcing gay men with HIV to go underground “and the disease is spread even further”.

Once we get people on (anti-retroviral) drugs, it’s fantastic,“ said John, who came to Washington with his Canadian-born husband David Furnish, chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

“But getting people to feel unashamed ... because they may have a sexual orientation that the leader of the government may not approve of, is incredibly important,” he said.

Graham, a self-described conservative Republican from South Carolina who is mulling a 2016 White House bid, and who opposes same-sex marriage, appeared slightly uncomfortable with that response.

John added: “If Christ was alive today, and I believe in Christ, he would be appalled at the way people are being stigmatised.”