Every day, thousands of people will die of AIDS and close to 6,000 will become infected with HIV. GenEndit, a coalition dedicated to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, invites us all to help win this battle. The coalition, made up of Charlize Theron, Elton John, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Kweku Mandela Amuah, Elizabeth Taylor’s grandson Quinn Tivey and other committed activists, strongly believes that ours is the generation that will, indeed, end the scourge.
Theron exclusively tells E! News, “We won’t see the end of the epidemic unless we are all fighting, especially youth. Young people have always been strong drivers of social change. Ending AIDS requires speaking out and eradicating sexism, racism, homophobia, and any other form of stigma and discrimination that causes anyone to be left behind.”
“I speak to young children who are affected, young children who aren’t going to make it, and I think to myself, this is a virus that is 100-percent preventable. Why is this happening? We have become complacent in how far we’ve come in the fight against HIV/AIDS and what we’ve forgotten is that we’re not close to being done,” Theron reminds us in one of many #GenEndIt video campaigns.
“Young people should care about this because young people are the ones who are affected the hardest by HIV/AIDS. HIV is the number one killer of adolescent kids in Africa. It is the number two killer of adolescent kids between the ages of 10 and 19, globally. Our youth should not be dying at those kinds of numbers at that rate.”
The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, created in 2007, provides support to organizations through direct grants, networking and spotlighting the power of their work. CTAOP, along with the Elton John AIDS Foundation and The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation are just a few examples of highly impactful organizations joining #GenEndIt in the collective mission to end the AIDS epidemic.
Elton John explains, “The passion and commitment from young people-activists like Loyce Maturu and public figures like Prince Harry gives me real hope that today’s youth can end AIDS. We must give them all the tools we can to banish the old prejudices that fuel this disease so they can truly be #GenEndIt.”
HIV/AIDS is one of the most challenging battles of our time, having killed millions in the last 30 years. We have the power, together, to be the generation that ends AIDS but, as Theron pointed out, we also have to continue the fight against racism, sexism and homophobia, and value all lives equally. Help join that fight by spreading awareness: #GenEndIt.