The international pop icon Rihanna joined force with his majesty, Prince Harry in her native Barbados to advocate on behalf of the disease and work to prevent its spread. This is in honor of World AIDS Day.
The two public figures had their blood taken at an HIV drop-in center in the country's capital as a sign of solidarity. While getting their fingers pricked, Rihanna laughed at the British royal for making her think it would be painful.
While their tests came back negative, Harry wanted to highlight the ease and importance of seeking testing and antiretroviral medication if necessary to combat the virus. "Because of the success of these drugs, which is great, we are now suffering from complacency and risk going back 10 or 20 years," he said.
Prince Harry, Princess Diana's youngest son has spent the last year championing on behalf of the HIV and AIDS community much like his late mother. However, it wasn't his first live HIV test for the public.
At the end of June, Prince Harry had organized a charity concert headlined by the Coldplay for them to raise money for Sentebale which is a charity he founded to help children wherein many was infected with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho, South Africa. And then the following month after that, he took the stage with Sir Elton John at the 2016 International AIDS Conferencein Durban South Africa where in it was a country that is HIV and AIDS are still prominent.
He had told the crowd n South Africa that it is already time for them to step up to make sure that no young person feels any shame in asking for an HIV test. It is time for them to step up to make sure that girls and boys with HIV aren't kept from playing with their friends, classmates, and neighbors. It is time for them to step up and acknowledge that stigma and discrimination still act as the greatest barrier to us defeating this disease once and for all.
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