British singer Elton John on Monday urged the international community to include all sexual orientations in the fight against AIDS community and warned that, otherwise, the UN campaign to end the disease by 2030 "will be a disaster" . Gay, bisexual, transgender, "can not exclude anyone," he said the musician at the conference on HIV AIDS being held through Friday in the South African city of Durban and brings together 18,000 experts from 180 countries.
"In the 60s, in England, were persecuted for being homosexual," he recalled the artist, whose foundation to fight AIDS is launching a new initiative to support sexual minorities in Africa. "It's a start, but we will continue until there is no more stigma, more hatred," he said. Homosexuality is illegal in more than two thirds of the 54 countries in Africa, according to the International Commission on Human Rights for Gays and Lesbians. Sudan, Nigeria and Mauritania even apply the death penalty to homosexuals.
Meanwhile, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, called for more resources to prevention, treatment and research of HIV and warned that new infections could reach record levels among young Africans. "It will not be enough to keep doing what we're already doing," Gates told the conference. Beyond "a few governments that should be applauded for their generosity," it is becoming difficult to get financial contributions to support the fight against HIV, Gates said. AIDS, a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) kills about 1.1 million people each year. Most deaths occur in Africa.
