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British RoyalsThe Sussexes

The Duke of Sussex to attend the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam

The Duke of Sussex will attend the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th July. His Royal Highness will attend the event in his capacity as Patron of Sentebale.

The International AIDS Conference is the largest conference on any global health issue in the world. It was first convened during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, and it continues to provide a unique forum for the intersection of science, advocacy, and human rights. Each conference is an opportunity to strengthen policies and programmes that ensure an evidence-based response to the epidemic. The Duke of Sussex previously attended the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2016.

The Duke of Sussex will join Sentebale’s ‘Let Youth Lead’ advocates on Monday afternoon to discuss the challenges of young people living with HIV and those affected by the epidemic in southern Africa. The Let Youth Lead advocacy programme aims to engage policymakers to drive positive change in HIV interventions that better support the younger generation. His Royal Highness will then attend a meeting with influential leaders from organisations working in HIV response.

On the second day of his visit, The Duke of Sussex will join a plenary session with Sir Elton John to launch a new coalition of global AIDS funders called the MenStar Coalition. This was founded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the U.S. government’s PEPFAR programme, the Global Fund for AIDS, TB & Malaria, UNITAID, Johnson & Johnson, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Gilead and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These organisations are some of the most critical stakeholders working on HIV globally. The MenStar Coalition’s first initiative will be to launch a new HIV self-testing campaign, which will be aimed at young men in Kenya.