With her SING campaign, Annie Lennox is one of the most active campaigners against discrimination against HIV-positive people worldwide. She is now working with Elton John, giving good advice to the UN and drumming up support for the rights of HIV-positive children and women on CNN.
Two of the most famous stars in the pop business are not only working together musically, but also when it comes to HIV and Aids in Africa: Sir Elton John and Annie Lennox opened the Vrygrond Community Centre (VCC) in Vrygrond, South Africa, together on 25 March. The project supports the community of the small town 30 kilometres from Capetown and sees itself as an offer to the urban and rural population of the region.
The centre provides health care as well as information and education on HIV/Aids in an area where it is estimated that one in six adults is HIV-positive. Funding for the VCC is secured through a first-time collaboration between Sir Elton John's Aids Foundation and the Annie Lennox SING Campaign.
The singer had explicitly collected donations for this project as part of the RTL telethon last year and the concert that the English stars gave together on the evening of the opening in Capetown also benefited the project. Annie Lennox wore a T-shirt that said "HIV-positive" and is part of her SING campaign. The singer is not positive, but wears these shirts whenever she can. "It's important to me to do my bit to break down the stigmatisation of HIV-positive people," explains Annie Lennox on her website.
Lennox has been active in the fight against the spread of HIV since the early 1980s. In a recent interview with CNN, she explained what is particularly important to her today: "With the SING campaign, I want to show that in the last ten years it has been women and children in Africa who have been hit harder by HIV and AIDS than almost any other group and who need our special attention and solidarity. I have been active in this area for a long time, but my focus has changed in recent years. Now that I am a mother myself, I see much more clearly how necessary the work in this area is."
During a visit to New York in mid-March, Annie Lennox not only supported the UN in launching a five-year plan to combat the spread of the virus in third world countries, but also gave a detailed interview to CNN star journalist Christiane Amanpour about her work with the SING Campaign, which can also be seen on the singer's homepage. (Paul Schulz)
