Podcast 127 –Prince Harry supports England’s 2022 National HIV Testing Week

Prince Harry reconnected with his Welsh friend Gareth Thomas to support 2022 National HIV Testing Week in England.  National HIV Testing Week is the campaign to promote regular testing, particularly among the most affected population groups in England, thereby helping to reduce the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV. 

For listeners living outside of the UK or for those who don't  follow the sport of Rugby Union, Gareth Thomas is a former rugby player and was also the captain of the Welsh Rugby Union team, at one point being the most capped player in the sport.  He came out in 2009 and in 2019 it was publicized that he was diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS. 

This week is not the first time that Prince Harry has spoken about the importance of HIV testing. In the past few years Harry had made raising awareness about and de-stigmatizing HIV one of his causes. He and Rhianna both took a much-publicized HIV test in 2016 which resulted in a 500% increase in people getting tested. 

In November 2019, not long after news of Gareth’s diagnosis was made public, Harry and a whole bunch of press and TV cameras met with Gareth and with rugby players from the English rugby club the Harlequins,  to launch 2019’s HIV testing week.

This past December on World AIDS Day 2021, Harry wrote to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, thanking the scientific community for their tireless work in the treatment of AIDS.

To kick of HIV testing week this year, Harry participated in a podcast hosted by Gareth. In 2020 Gareth set up a website called Tackle HIV  https://tacklehiv.org/which provides lots of information in written and video formats aiming to correct misunderstandings, change attitudes and break stigma around HIV with the aim to make a difference for people living with and people affected by the virus. Gareth’s Tackle HIV organization is supported by groups such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK National AIDS Trust and by the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The 30-minute podcast was in the format of a very relaxed conversation between Harry and Gareth. They have met each other many times before and you can tell that they are relaxed in each other’s company, with Harry at one point teasing Gareth over his Welsh accent.

This podcast talks about some of the issues that Harry and Gareth chatted about, including the ground-breaking work by the late Princess Diana in breaking down walls surrounding a diagnosis of AIDS.

For listeners from the US and Canada, a quick browse on the internet shows that the availability of free HIV testing varies from  state to state and from province to province, but there is generally some free access to testing services.  Information about these services can be found on the relevant state and provincial health department websites.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili.  Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/