{"id":444591,"date":"2025-09-23T01:38:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444591\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T01:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:38:18","slug":"duke-of-sussex-features-in-film-calling-for-investment-to-end-aids-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444591\/","title":{"rendered":"Duke of Sussex features in film calling for investment to end Aids \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duke of Sussex will voice fears that \u201cdrastic cuts\u201d could reverse progress against HIV and Aids in a new short film to premier at the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Funding cuts are affecting countries with high HIV rates \u2013 including Eswatini, Mozambique and South Africa \u2013 by creating shortages of community health workers and data collectors, Unaids said.<\/p>\n

The United Nations (UN) HIV and Aids programme warned that by 2029, six million people could become newly infected with HIV and four million could die from Aids-related illnesses, if funding is not fully restored.<\/p>\n

The film, produced by Hollywood\u2019s Oscar-nominated Ron Nyswaner, will premiere at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday and show \u201cworld leaders the devastating impact of recent funding cuts\u201d and urge \u201cthem to recommit to ending Aids by 2030\u201d, Unaids said.<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/a>\"A<\/a>\"TheThe Duke of Sussex (Suzanne Plunkett\/PA) <\/p>\n

American basketball player Earvin \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson, Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron and South African actress Thuso Mbedu, also appear in the short.<\/p>\n

Harry, 41, tells the camera that the HIV and Aids crisis was \u201cignored because of stigma, shame and misinformation\u201d but since then \u201cmillions of lives have been saved\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWithout urgent action, we will slip backwards. We are already seeing drastic cuts to HIV prevention and treatment programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement published by Unaids, the Duke said: \u201cRight now, babies are being born with HIV due to interruptions in antiretroviral treatment for their mothers.<\/p>\n

\"ActressActress Charlize Theron also appears in the film (Matt Crossick\/PA) <\/p>\n

\u201cWithout urgent action to reverse these crippling funding cuts, six million more people will become infected with HIV while four million will die from Aids-related causes within the next four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not just the at-risk communities that will be affected. We\u2019ve proven that sustained investment saves lives and builds stronger communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbandoning this life-saving work now would be a devastating betrayal of progress for the millions who depend on these essential services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Duke has long campaigned to support people living with HIV and Aids, particularly in Botswana and Lesotho through his charity Sentebale which he stepped down from as patron in March.<\/p>\n

\"SouthSouth African actress Thuso Mbedu (Ian West\/PA) <\/p>\n

He co-founded the charity with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2006.<\/p>\n

Harry stepped down as patron in support of trustees who resigned in opposition to board chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka, who previously levelled accusations of bullying and harassment against the royal.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s producer Mr Nyswaner is known for writing the film Philadelphia in which Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who faces discrimination for his sexuality and Aids diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Mr Nyswaner said in a statement: \u201cThe global HIV response has saved millions of lives for over two decades, bringing countries together in international solidarity to end the Aids crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope the film captures that success while serving as a call to action for continued funding for this essential work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medical advances including the roll-out of HIV treatment has boosted life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa from 56.5 years in 2010 to 62.3 years in 2024, Unaids said.<\/p>\n

HIV infections have fallen by 40% and Aids-related deaths have decreased by 56% since 2010, it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duke of Sussex will voice fears that \u201cdrastic cuts\u201d could reverse progress against HIV and Aids in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,24886,7721,7719,3063,146888,7718,105,22848,105741,7720,1281,447,150023,5105,7710,519,30640,16,7711,150024,137505],"class_list":{"0":"post-444591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-charlize-theron","10":"tag-duchess-of-sussex","11":"tag-duke-of-sussex","12":"tag-film","13":"tag-funding-cuts","14":"tag-harry","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-hiv-and-aids","17":"tag-magic-johnson","18":"tag-meghan","19":"tag-meghan-markle","20":"tag-prince-harry","21":"tag-ron-nyswaner","22":"tag-royal","23":"tag-royal-families","24":"tag-royal-family","25":"tag-the-duke-of-sussex","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-uk-royal-family","28":"tag-unaids","29":"tag-united-nations-general-assembly"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115251059680982588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}