The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, STOPAIDS and actor Colin Farrell hosted a gathering at the Elizabeth Taylor Grit and Glamour exhibition at the Getty Images Gallery in London, United Kingdom, to announce their commitment to the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to achieve the 90–90–90 treatment target in Malawi’s Mulanje District.
The Mulanje District has been particularly affected by HIV and despite the efforts of health-care workers and the Malawi Ministry of Health, health services in the district remain weak. According to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, adult HIV prevalence is around 17% and approximately 70 000 people in the district are living with HIV, making it one of the most affected regions in the world.
Recognizing the need to bring health services closer to people in remote areas of Malawi, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation has been working in the Mulanje District since 2004 and has established seven mobile health clinics that provide HIV prevention and testing services.
Every day, the seven clinics rotate to a new location. The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation estimates that an average of 1000 patients were seen every day in 2014—40% were children under the age of five. Furthermore, it estimates that every one of the 900 000 residents in Malawi’s Phalombe and Mulanje Districts now lives within an hour’s walk to life-sustaining health-care services—an important achievement, especially given the country’s challenging road infrastructure.
At the event in London, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation called for more partners to join and form a new wave of mutually reinforcing strategies to achieve the UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target in Mulanje District under the leadership of the District Health Office.
The Elizabeth Taylor Grit and Glamour photo exhibition served as the backdrop at the event, featuring images that spanned decades of her career as an actress and activist. Actor Colin Farrell opened the evening by welcoming guests and honouring the late Elizabeth Taylor.
Speakers included Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, First Minister of Scotland 2001–2007, and architect of the Scotland–Malawi Co-operation Agreement, and Joel Goldman, Managing Director, of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, who urged support for additional funding to scale up HIV prevention, testing and treatment programmes in the Mulanje District.
Singer/songwriter and UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox closed the event, thanking the organizations in the room for their commitment to achieving the UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target in Malawi.
“The tide of the AIDS epidemic is turning. In Malawi and other countries, deaths are down, prevalence is falling, and new infections are reducing. But now it’s time for a knockout punch—and we all need to work together to achieve it.”
Joel Goldman, Managing Director, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation
“AIDS is the leading cause of death among young women and adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year alone, 2 million people were newly infected with HIV—over a million people died and a quarter of a million babies were infected. As a woman, mother and global citizen, I am appalled by these horrific facts and as the years go by, I still don’t honestly think that the world has fully grasped the scale of the devastation AIDS has wreaked upon the lives of women, girls and young people in general.”
Annie Lennox, UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador
“Activism, optimism and dedication have brought people living with HIV to the centre of the response, given a voice to the voiceless and enabled 15 million people to access life-saving treatment. I am inspired to see so many countries and partners, like The Elizabeth Taylor Foundation, uniting around the UNAIDS Fast-Track Targets to ensure that together we end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS
