JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — Grammy Award winning singer and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Angelique Kidjo on Monday called for a relentless fight against AIDS in Africa, the world's most affected continent.
"HIV-AIDS has become a huge issue for my continent and the fight against it must be relentless and determined," the Benin-born Kidjo told AFP in an interview to mark the World AIDS Day.
"Although stigmatisation of HIV-AIDS patients exists everywhere on the continent, we are fighting to stop it through music, education and contacts with political leaders," said Kidjo, who last month completed a CD on the disease with Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour.
Kidjo, who performed in South Africa on Saturday, was travelling to the Sengalese capital Dakar later Monday for a two-day musical campaign against HIV-AIDS stigmatisation, she said.
The Beninese musician, based in New York, said that her campaign to raise awareness on HIV-AIDS has taken her across Africa in the past six years since she became a United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) goodwill ambassador.
"There is a need in Africa to educate people on the the killer diseases and ailments such as AIDS, malaria, dysentery, cholera. The crux of my campaign is education on these diseases and how to prevent child and maternal mortality on the continent," she said.
"It is pleasing to note that treatment for these diseases is becoming more accessible to people," said Kidjo, who lost an aunt recently to dysentery.
"I have been in the struggle in the past six years. I am passionate about the preventive aspect of the campaign. As a woman and a mother, I felt seriously touched in Uganda when I saw a 15-year-old orphan boy fending for his family left behind by his parents killed by AIDS."
She said "several years of denialism has made AIDS absolutely a disaster in South Africa," a country of 5.5 million HIV-positive people, one of the highest populations in the world.
The South African government on Monday asked the nation to halt work for 15 minutes to observe World AIDS Day.
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