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Rihanna and Prince Harry take HIV tests for AIDs Awareness on World AIDs Day
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – DECEMBER 01: Singer Rihanna (L) and Prince Harry (C) have their blood samples taken for an live HIV test, in order to promote more widespread testing for the public at the ‘Man Aware’ event held by the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission on the eleventh day of an official visit on December 1, 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Prince Harry’s visit to The Caribbean marks the 35th Anniversary of Independence in Antigua and Barbuda and the 50th Anniversary of Independence in Barbados and Guyana. (Photo by Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Images)
Prince Harry and Rihanna have taken HIV tests together in Barbados to raise awareness of the virus on World Aids Day, December 1st.
The pair, who appeared on stage together on Wednesday night at Barbados’s celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence, had the finger-prick procedure during a visit to a HIV drop-in centre targeting men in the capital, Bridgetown, on Thursday.
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – DECEMBER 01: Singer Rihanna gets her blood sample taken for an live HIV test, in order to promote more widespread testing for the public at the ‘Man Aware’ event held by the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission on the eleventh day of an official visit on December 1, 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Prince Harry’s visit to The Caribbean marks the 35th Anniversary of Independence in Antigua and Barbuda and the 50th Anniversary of Independence in Barbados and Guyana. (Photo by Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Images)
Harry had a public HIV test during the summer in London and admitted to being nervous before the result came back negative. The prince has been campaigning for months to encourage more people to come forward and be tested for infection with the virus, which can now be managed with drugs.
During a visit to a Barbados hospital on Wednesday, Harry, who is touring the Caribbean, met paediatric consultant and HIV expert Dr Alok Kumar, and told him: “I want to say to everyone who hadn’t been tested – get tested, regardless of who you are, your background, culture or religion.”
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – DECEMBER 01: Prince Harry (R) watches as Singer Rihanna (L) gets her blood sample taken for an live HIV test, in order to promote more widespread testing for the public at the ‘Man Aware’ event held by the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission on the eleventh day of an official visit on December 1, 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Prince Harry’s visit to The Caribbean marks the 35th Anniversary of Independence in Antigua and Barbuda and the 50th Anniversary of Independence in Barbados and Guyana. (Photo by Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Images)
Referring to the success of anti-retroviral medicine in helping patients, he said: “Because of the success of these drugs, which is great, we are now suffering from complacency and risk going back 10 or 20 years.”
The Barbados National HIV/Aids programme has highlighted men as being at significantly high risk. They are more likely to be diagnosed late with HIV compared with women and are more likely to die from Aids-related illnesses
Source & Photo Credits: Guardian, Chris Jackson/Getty Images
